Let It Out
by DarkElements10
Summary: -COMPLETE- I'm not afraid to let it out, I'm gonna show you how I feel. I'm not afraid to let it out. Who cares if you don't like it? Full Summary Inside. -SHORT STORY-
1. Chapter 1

**Let It Out**

**By: Riley and Rhuben**

**Summary**** – Working together in the music industry, you become best friends pretty quickly. But that doesn't mean that you don't have your fair share of fights and annoyances every now and then.**

* * *

**.:Chapter One:.**

"Jump, jump, jumpjumpjumpjumpjumpjump!"

Kendall elbowed Carlos out of his ear as he leaned forward on the edge of the couch, an Xbox controller held tightly between his hands. James and Logan were sitting nearby, staring at the TV screen with rapt interest, not daring to breathe as Kendall played their new video game.

"I am," Kendall grunted. "And _don't_ distract when I'm playing. If I die, I'm going to shove this controller down your throat."

"Yeah, I'd like to see that," Carlos challenged, sticking out his tongue before reaching out and shoving Kendall on the arm. Kendall let out a scream as the image on the TV screen suddenly blew up. Logan and James burst out into hysterical laughter as Kendall continued to stare at the TV, his mouth dropped open in shock. Carlos wasn't sure whether or not to laugh or try to sneak away from his friend before he got beat down to the ground. He made his decision as Kendall dropped the controller and slowly turned to face Carlos. "Sorry?" Carlos shrugged as he gave a short smile.

"Sorry" Kendall repeated with a forced smile. "You're sorry?"

"Uh," Carlos shifted his eyes over to Logan and James, who were now smiling with anticipation. "Yeah."

"Do you know how far I was in that game?" Kendall asked as he stood up and towered over his smaller friend. "I was _this close_," he held his thumb and index finger an inch apart. "To getting to the next objective and I hadn't even _saved_ yet."

"Actually," Logan spoke up, holding up his index finger. "You were about 10 minutes of game play away from the next objective from the way that you were playing." He gave a smug smile as Kendall turned and gave him an 'I-Don't-Care' look. "Just helping." He said as he held his hands up defensively. "You can go about killing Carlos now." He smiled.

"Thanks," Carlos rolled his eyes. He turned back to Kendall and, seeing the mischievous grin on his face, screamed loudly before launching himself off of the couch, trying to get away from his friend. Kendall moved quickly and pounced on top of Carlos, pinning him to the floor. James and Logan laughed even harder as Kendall grabbed a pillow off of the couch and continuously hit Carlos over the head with it.

It wasn't odd to see this happening. 9 times out of 10 the boys of Big Time Rush could be seen either on the ice or in their apartment, 2J of the PalmWoods, beating each other up over something very trivial. Kendall's mother and the other boys' caretaker, Mrs. Knight, was so used to it, that she didn't even seem fazed by it when she would walk through the apartment and find them rolling around on the floor. After the time she had caught James and Logan in odd, compromising positions as they were fighting over a pair of sneakers, she was careful not to ask what was going on when it came to their antics.

It gave her more than her peace of mind.

Even Katie, Kendall's little sister, and James's, Carlos', and Logan's 'little sister' by association, was so used to the boys fighting over nothing that she would either bet on who would win (and she would usually won) or she would goad them into fighting even more.

But none of it was serious and it was always fun for them to let off some steam that way. It was especially enjoyable to Kendall, as he is the most competitive out of all of the boys, and would not stop until he was declared the winner.

"Ow, ow, stop!" Carlos cried between bursts of laughter. He raised his arms over his head, to shield his face as Kendall continued to hit him. "Ok, I give, just get off me."

Kendall sighed as he lowered his arms, getting off of his friend and pulling him to his feet. "You make it way too easy, you know that?"

Carlos shrugged as he brushed off his clothes; he turned towards the front door of the apartment as there was a quick double knock. He didn't get a chance to say that the apartment was open before the front door was flung wide open and their friend, Riley Jackson-McGuire stormed into the apartment.

"Hey Landy," Logan greeted her cheerfully with a wave. Having known her since he was 8, before he moved to Minnesota and met Kendall, James, and Carlos, he had given her that nickname from her full first name. And he was the only one that she allowed to call her that. He noticed the redness of her cheeks and frowned. "What's wrong?"

"What makes you think that something's wrong?" She asked under her breath as she crossed the apartment over to the kitchen. She pulled out a stool and pulled herself up onto it, crossing her arms over her chest as well as her legs.

"I don't know, Tinkerbell," Kendall commented as he crossed his own arms over his chest. He used his right hand to point at her. "It might be because of the fact that your face is all red." He added, speaking of the instant giveaway that let anyone know when she was mad.

"I'm not in the mood for names, Kendall." She replied sharply.

Kendall's eyebrows rose. "Must be my fault then," he commented, noticing another hint that she was ticked off about something. Ever since she and her siblings, the band the DarkElements, had agreed to work with BTR while they were trying to get big in LA, she started calling Kendall any and every nickname that she could think of (her favorites being Hockey-Head or Eyebrows) instead of his own name. She did it enough that he noticed that she was mad at him or was being serious about something, if she called him by his first name. "What'd I do this time?"

"It's something you all did, actually," She replied shortly and waited to see if they knew what she was talking about. Getting no answer, Riley gritted her teeth as she clenched her hands into fists. "You were _supposed_ to come to the studio today to get your fitting done." She raised her left arm, which had her watch on it, to her face. "You're over an hour late! Normally you would call if you were going to be held up by something, but seeing as you didn't…" she trailed off, letting out a huff.

"Yikes," Logan looked at his own watch. "I guess we _are _kind of late." He admitted.

"We're sorry, Riles," James apologized quickly. "We just lost track of time while we were playing this new video game that we got a couple of weeks ago." He crossed the room to her and placed his hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "We really lost track of time, I actually forgot all about it."

Riley shook her head as she scanned each of their faces. It wasn't the first time that they had been late to something that Gustavo had reminded them constantly not to miss. But every time Gustavo told them about something that they had to go to, they seemed to either forget about it completely, or show up twenty minutes late. If she had to guess, they were either not taking their job seriously, or they just didn't respect Gustavo enough. Each of those options was not going to fly with her.

"Well," Carlos licked his lips as he looked at his friends, quickly thinking of what to do. He hated it whenever someone was mad at him for just about anything, and he especially hated it whenever he let someone down. But he had a habit of giving into peer pressure, and while he knew that he had to get to a fitting, he was having too much fun hanging out with his friends. "Can't we just go do the fitting now? We'll move fast so it doesn't take as long."

Riley shook her head. "Can't," she raised and lowered one shoulder in a shrug. "I have to go pick up my brothers as well as get home to start making dinner." She got up from the stool and headed back towards the door. "You know, you've been doing that a lot lately." She commented over her shoulder.

"What do you mean by that?" Logan asked.

"Nothing," Riley grabbed onto the doorknob, holding it behind her as she turned back around to look at the four boys. "I just noticed it." She opened the door and stepped out of the apartment. "I'll see you guys, later."

She left, closing the door firmly behind her.

* * *

**A/N: **So this is a short story that's going to be only 10 chapters long, the chapters aren't really that long either. The idea of this came from some annoyances that Rhubes and I had about the show, so you'll see it as this story goes along. The first one is shown in this chapter; them being late to a wardrobe fitting and not seeming to care. In the show, I get that they're teenage boys and are trying to be relaxed in Hollywood, but time after time, I'm annoyed of seeing them being late for something Gustavo had set up for them and not seeming to care about how it affects them or others around them.

I hope you guys liked it, and don't worry; there'll be a happy ending.

Cheers,

-Riles


	2. Chapter 2

**~Chapter Two~**

* * *

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Carlos groaned and rolled over to slap the top of his alarm clock, stopping the loud alarm that rang through his room. He blinked his eyes open and saw the red numbers shining back in his face. 8:30am. He stared at the numbers for a moment before sitting up in bed.

"JAMES!" he shouted, grabbing his pillow. He sat up in bed and slung it across the room, hitting James straight in the face. "WAKE UP!"

James, who was sleeping on his back, merely reached a hand up and pulled the pillow off his face. "You…did _not_…just throw this at me," he said in a low voice, opening one eye to look at his friend. He sat up and threw the pillow back at Carlos, who caught it. "It's 8:30, Carlos! How am I supposed to get my eight hours of beauty sleep if you wake me up early?"

"Today's the day, James!" Carlos said as he shimmied out of bed, hurrying to his closet. "Today's the day the new iPhone comes out! We said we'd be one of the first to have them, remember?"

"Finally!" Jayden shouted, punching the air with his fists. He quickly scrambled out of his bed and moved to get on his clothes. He then grabbed a folded piece of paper off his desk. He quickly unfolded it and started reading. "A5 Chip for performance, an 8MP Camera with finer resolution, Siri—which, I don't know what the hell that is, video recording in 1080p HD, he iCloud to manage videos, music, and apps, FaceTime, I mean, this is the phone to get!"

"Yeah, and we can finally get that app called Instagram," Carlos added, sliding his helmet onto his head, slapping it twice. "I hear it puts awesome affects on your pictures." He lifted his hand for a high five and James let out a loud whoop, slapping his palm. "Let's go."

James and Carlos quickly finished changing and hurried into the kitchen where Kendall and Logan were already scarfing down their breakfast. Katie watched them in disgust, slowly eating a piece of toast. "Hey losers," she called, gaining their attention. "Your pie holes may be big enough to accommodate all this food, but I don't need to see it!"

"Sorry baby sister," Kendall said after making a show of swallowing his food. "But, we're in a hurry. The new iPhone is coming out today, and we made a bet with our friends that we'd be the first to get it."

Katie's look of annoyance quickly turned into a sweet smile. "Have I told you how much I love you today, big brother?"

"Purple case, right?" Kendall asked, reaching for his cup of orange juice, quickly downing it in three large gulps. He let out a loud burp and continued eating his eggs.

"Purple Zebra Print," Katie replied with a nod, her smile getting wider. "Rhubes and I picked ours out ahead of time so we could tell them apart. She's getting a purple swirly kind, it's pretty cool." She then snapped her fingers. "And don't forget to get one for mom. We left money in an envelope on the counter."

"Gob git," Kendall replied with a nod, giving Katie a thumbs up when he spotted the envelope that his sister mentioned. He then paused and looked around the apartment, noticing for the first time that his mother wasn't there. Katie let out a heavy sigh, rolling her eyes. "She said she had a meeting she had to attend to with Ronan, Gustavo, Kelly, and Griffin."

"Speaking of which," Logan said as he wiped his mouth with his napkin. He was the only one actually taking his time eating his breakfast. "We still have dance rehearsal today. We can't be late."

"We'll be there in time, don't worry," James said, flashing one of his famous smiles. "Besides, she understands how important this is. She wants the new iPhone as well."

"I just don't want to be late," Logan replied. "Riles was _really_ mad the other day when we forgot her wardrobe fitting."

"Riley's mad 85% of the time, Logan," Carlos pointed out, pointing his fork at Logan. He reached across the table for Logan's strawberries, but Logan slapped at his hand. "Ouch." Carlos pulled his hand back, pouting, before he stuck out his tongue at his friend. "What? It's true."

"He has a point," Kendall said as he wiped his fingers in his napkin before balling it up and tossing it at James's face.

"Yes, I know," Logan replied with a heavy sigh. "Guys, I just don't think we should be late for rehearsal, that's all. I mean, Riley _tells you_ when she's mad, but with Rhuben she doesn't say anything." He then grew thoughtful. "Honestly, I don't know what's worse, constantly being screamed at, or silence."

"Look, we don't have rehearsal until, what, 2?" James asked, pushing his chair back from the table, moving to put his plate in the sink. "If it gets too late and we _still_ don't have the phone, we'll just bail. We can put our stuff in the car just in case."

"I don't know," Logan slowly replied, shaking his head. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Relax, Logie," Kendall said, slapping his friend on the arm. "You need to take more risks, buddy. Besides, the iPhone is worth it. She'll understand. Like James said, she wants one, too."

"Well, ok," Logan said, attempting a smile, moving to finish his breakfast. "Just as long as we leave when we're supposed to. In fact, I'll make sure we do."

"Great, let's go," Kendall replied with a grin as he pushed his chair back from the table. He bent over and gave Katie a kiss on the forehead. "Love you baby sis. We'll see you later."

Katie continued to calmly eat her food, barely flinching when the door slammed shut behind her moment later. "This is going to blow up in your faces."

* * *

Logan tapped his fingers impatiently against the steering wheel. His right foot was planted firmly on the brake pedal. His left leg was restless, causing his knee to bounce up and down rapidly. He leaned out the window to see how many cars were in front of them. Carlos, James, and Kendall were talking excitedly about their new phones. Logan started chewing his thumbnail as he glanced at the bag by his feet.

They were late. The line was longer than they expected at the Apple Store and Logan wanted to leave, but somehow he got convinced to stay. By the time the all got their phones (and Mrs. Knight and Katie one too) Carlos started complaining that he was hungry and they decided to quickly stop at In-N-Out to get something to eat. When Logan voiced his doubts, Kendall quickly took the matter into his own hands, suggesting that they get something for Rhuben to eat as well.

Logan knew that wasn't going to help at all and he dreaded what Rhuben would do once they got to the studio. His stomach twisted into tight knots at the thought of it. He jumped when he heard horns start blaring. He could hear people behind them yelling – "What's the holdup?" "Hurry up and do your job already!"

"Bella is going to _kill_ me," Logan muttered, dropping his forehead onto the steering wheel. "I don't know how you guys talked me into this."

"Chill, Logie," Kendall said, reaching across the gap between the driver and passenger seat, patting him on the back. "We'll just get her something to eat and explain to her what happened. You know she hates getting stuff like this over the phone."

Logan didn't even bother replying to what Kendall had said. As the line started moving, he just took his foot off of the brake pedal and slowly eased the car forward until he got to the drive-thru window. A man smiled at them and gave them a friendly wave, "Welcome to In-N-Out. What would you like today?"

"Yes, can I get an Animal Style Burger, Double Meat, a 3x3, a 4x4, Flying Dutchman, five Animal Style fries, and five chocolate shakes, please?" Logan asked, immediately rattling off the order that his friends had argued about on the way to the joint.

"Certainly," the man replied, punching in the information on a computer system. "That'll be $32.75, please pull up to the next window and have a great day."

"…Right," Logan commented before making his way up to the next window.

They got their food and Logan made his way as fast as he possibly could back to Rocque Records. They changed their clothes and made their way to the dance studio. Logan's hand was shaking as he reached out, grasping the door handle, pushing it open. He glanced over at the mirrors, where Rhuben and Sydney were sitting. Sydney glanced over at them, giving a half smile, looking up from Rhuben's phone. Rhuben on the other hand continued to stare straight ahead of her.

_We're dead_, Logan thought briefly closing his eyes as he slowly dropped his back off his shoulder. He exchanged nervous glances with Kendall, James, and Carlos. _You'd be a fool not to notice the tension in here_. They slowly made their way to the center of the room, stretching their arms.

"You're late," Rhuben commented shortly once they were in her line of vision. "_Again_." Her blue eyes flashed before she ran her hands over her face. "Your lateness is unacceptable."

"We had a good reason," Carlos spoke up and Rhuben looked over at him, silently waiting for his answer. "The new iPhone came out today and we went to go get one." Rhuben arched an eyebrow. "We got one."

"We got hungry while we waited in line so we went to get some In-N-Out," James explained, picking up the story. "We knew we were going to be late anyway, so we got you something. Flying Dutchman, Animal Style Fries, and a chocolate milkshake." He motioned towards the white paper bag with its top rolled down.

"And nowhere in the—" Rhuben glanced at her watch. "Hour and a half that you're late did it even occur to you to call?"

"You said it many times yourself that you'd rather get stuff like this to your face," Kendall explained. "And we _were_ thinking of you. We got you something to eat as an apology for our lateness. Plus, it's LA traffic, you know how bad that is."

Rhuben rubbed her forehead and glanced over at Logan. "Do you have anything else to add?" she asked quietly and Logan slowly shook his head. "Don't bother about stretching, you can just stop." She was silent for a moment, working her jaw before saying, "You're late. You're over and hour and a half late. I was sitting here thinking, '_There's a good reason for it. They're responsible boys, they'll call'_ but I didn't even get that."

"It's…we can stay late," Logan suggested, speaking up since he got there. He knew they were in big trouble. Unlike Riley who exploded at you when she was mad, Rhuben was the exact opposite; she talked calmly and in a low voice. "We can make it up—"

"No, you really can't," Rhuben stated with a laugh of disbelief, finally getting to her feet, crossing her arms over her chest. "I had to cancel and move around a lot of stuff to fit in this rehearsal with you guys today. I wouldn't have been late to any of those and I don't expect them to be late with me." She eyed the white bag warily. "And buying me food isn't going to make up for it."

"Sorry," the boys muttered.

Rhuben's face softened slightly. "I know you're sorry, but that doesn't change anything," RHuben commented. She moved to the corner of the room and grabbed her bag and Sydney's backpack, holding out the latter towards her brother. "Normally, I'd make you stay and work, but I have other places to be and I'm sure you do as well." She helped Sydney slide his backpack onto his back. "Syd, I'll drive you over to Dak's place."

"Can I have the food if you're not going to eat it?" Sydney asked, earning a small laugh from Rhuben.

"Sure," she replied and Sydney beamed as she ran her fingers through his hair. "You guys can go."

"Uh, Beautiful, when is our next rehearsal?" James asked, moving to collect his things. He handed the bag to Sydney who smiled and opened it, his smile widening as he pulled out the chocolate shake.

"…I'll let you know, Handsome," she replied before pulling the door open, ushering them out. "Enjoy your new phones. I'll see you guys later."

"You guys still coming over for dinner tonight?" Kendall asked as he turned to face her. She was the last out of the room, flipping off the lights and locking the door. "It _is_ Friday." She tossed the keys towards him and he caught it against his chest.

"Maybe," she replied with the Jackson famous one-shoulder shrug. "It depends on Ronan." She nodded towards the keys in Kendall's hand. "Make sure Gustavo gets those back. Come on, Little Man, let's go."

"Well," Carlos said with a happy sigh as he watched Rhuben and Sydney head down the hall. "That wasn't too bad. It's a good thing she's not that mad."

"Not that mad?" Logan repeated, his eyes widening. "_Not that mad_. Clearly, you've never seen her mad in your entire life."

"Not really, no," Carlos replied, engrossed in his phone.

Logan rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I _knew_ this was a bad idea," he groaned, running his fingers through his hair. "How do you guys always talk me into stuff like this."

"Logie, chillax," James said, roughly shaking Logan's shoulders. "She's not that mad. You wanna know how I know?" Logan merely blinked back at him. "Over the years of knowing the Jacksons, they give their close friends nicknames. Whenever they're mad, they call us by our real names. She didn't call me 'James' she called me 'Handsome'. _That's_ how I know she's not mad."

He then gave a wide smile, shouldering his bag. He ran his fingers through his hair and started his way out of Rocque Records. "Now. Let's go show off our phones to our friends," he replied, pulling his out of his pocket. "I can't believe we finally have it." He practically started skipping, humming in happiness.

"Wait up, James," Kendall said as he elbowed Carlos in the side, getting his attention fast enough to stop his friend from walking into a wall.

Logan sighed heavily, following after his friends. As he started down the stairs of Rocque Records to the back parking lot, he saw that Rhuben hadn't pulled out yet. "Guys, I'll catch up in a minute," he shouted to his friends. Kendall waved a hand in the air, showing that he heard his friend. "Bella!" Logan hurried down the stairs.

Rhuben briefly glanced at him before getting into the driver's seat of her car, a black Ford Focus, slamming the door shut behind her. Sydney was already sitting in the passenger seat, munching happily on the French fries, cheese around his mouth. "Wait!" Logan called to her as he ran to catch up with her before she pulled out of the parking lot. Rhuben sat back in her seat, rolling down the car window.

"What is it, Logie?" she asked, glancing at him.

_Nickname. That's a good sign_, Logan thought with a small smile.

"Logan, we have to get going," Rhuben said more annoyed than angry. "What do you want?"

"Uh…" Logan swallowed. "Look, about what happened back there." Rhuben slowly looked around before locking eyes with him again. "Can't we talk about this?"

"There isn't much to talk about," she stated, with a shrug. She reached for the keys that were in the ignition and tuned on the car. "I've really got to drop Sydney off or I'm going to be late."

"Ok," Logan replied with a nod, stepping back from the car, resting his hand on the top of it. He quickly pulled it back as the sun hot car burned his hand. "Well, just have someone text me whether you can or can't make it tonight." He gave a small wave, which Sydney happily returned, as they slowly pulled out of the parking space and Rocque Records parking lot.

* * *

"Could you text or call Dak and tell him I'm dropping you off at his house?" Rhuben asked, checking over her shoulder before she merged into the lane beside her. "I believe Lizzie had a day off of school today and I think Katie said she was going to hang out over there."

"Yeah," Sydney replied before searching the bag for a napkin, wiping his face. "You sure you don't want anything to eat?"

"Just save me some of the milkshake if you don't mind," Rhuben replied as she pulled up to a stop light. She leaned back in her seat, drumming her fingers on the stick shift of her car. "I just don't get why they didn't call. They knew they had rehearsal."

"They tried their hardest to make it back, though," Sydney said as he quickly typed out a text to Dak Zevon. "You know LA traffic."

"Thanks, but I'd rather you didn't make excuses for them," Rhuben commented with a gentle smile. "They've been late to a lot of stuff recently. I'm surprised Riley didn't really chew them out when she had the chance."

"I'm surprised you didn't either," Sydney shot back, raising his eyebrows. "But you're right; they _have_ been making excuses for a lot of things lately." He reached into the bag and handed her the milkshake. "It's been happening for a few weeks now, I've noticed. But for things with us just only recently." He wrinkled his nose. "I don't' know how important this is to them anymore."

"Exactly what I was thinking, Little Man," Rhuben replied, taking a sip of the milkshake. She glanced at it, and the In-N-Out logo on the side, and swallowed, licking her lips. "Exactly what I was thinking. But, I mean, we all slip up every now and then and getting the iPhone _is_ a big deal."

"Yeah, but not big enough for _you_ to miss rehearsal," Sydney pointed out. He then grinned. "We just get Ronan to get it for us." Rhuben laughed a her phone vibrated against Sydney's lap. "Dak says it's fine if I go over. He's not there, but Lizzie is."

Rhuben silently nodded, moving the car forward as the light turned green. "Normally, I'm not all for giving people so many chances, but Big Time Rush is a different story," she explained, using a hand to scratch at an ear. "I just want them to be successful. But, they won't get anywhere if they treat this like a game."

"I have faith in them," Sydney commented. "I guess that's really all that matters."

* * *

**So, if you didn't know, this is a co-written short story by Riles and I. We agreed it'd only be about 10 chapters long. Anyway, here's chapter two! Hope you liked it!**

**Cheers,**

**-Rhubes**


	3. Chapter 3

**.:Chapter Three:.**

* * *

"Ok guys, we have to try extra hard not to be late today." Logan said as he dropped his gym bag onto the floor of the apartment before walking over to the refrigerator.

"Logan, we're going down to the gym," Kendall pointed out, resting his elbows on the counter as he lifted a spoonful of cereal up to his mouth. "Two floors under our feet, there's no way that we can be late to that." He rolled his eyes as he took another bite of Trix.

Logan gave a half smile, as if saying 'prove it', and scanned the refrigerator for something to eat really fast. He ended up just grabbing an apple before walking over to the counter, taking a bite. "You know that I was right when I said that she was going to be mad that we were late." He pointed out.

Kendall sighed, pushing his bow always. "Logie, you've been saying that for the past three days." He shrugged. "And she seemed perfectly fine during Game Night." He pointed out.

Shortly after they started working together, Big Time Rush and the Jacksons had come up with this 'tradition' where the Jacksons would go over to apartment 2J to have dinner. Depending on whether or not they had an early dinner they watched a movie or played board games afterwards. Then Riley, Logan, and Rhuben would go to hang out and Patrick, Noah, and Sydney would sleep over. That last Friday went on as usual; they had an early dinner so they decided to play some board games. From Kendall's point of view, things were perfectly fine, but it seemed that Logan had seen things go differently.

"So you think the fact that whenever Rhuben would pass you on the board, her knocking you off each time showed that she was 'perfectly fine'?" Logan used air quotes around the words. Kendall nodded. "If you think that's when she's 'fine' I hate to think what you think she is when she's annoyed." Logan shook his head.

"This phone is so cool," Carlos said as he left his room, walking slowly. His bag was dangling against his back and he was staring hard at his new iPhone as if it would disappear as soon as he took his eyes off of it. "Did you know that there have, like, 20 free apps that you can use?" He lifted his head and shoved his phone out in front of him. "Look, this app tells you whether or not the sun has set."

"Yeah," Logan nodded slowly. "There's something else that can tell you that, it's called the _sun_!"

Carlos snorted as he put his phone into the mesh pocket of his gym bag. He turned his attention to Kendall and Logan before slowly turning in a circle, looking around, noticing that the apartment was quieter than usual.

"Where is everybody?" he asked.

"Uh, Mom went to talk to Gustavo about something," Kendall said as he tilted his head back, looking at the ceiling as he thought about it. "James is probably down at the gym like he usually is at this hour," he shook his head at the thought. "And Katie is…probably scamming some people out of their money at the pool." He finished his bowl of cereal and moved to put it in the sink.

"That's what you'd think, big bro," Katie said as she entered the apartment, looking bummed. "No one was really at the pool and Bitters is too busy watching some sort of Soap Opera on his computer." She placed her hands on her hips as she looked at the three boys. "Are you headed to the gym?"

"Yep," Logan said as he tossed his apple core away. "Instead of going down to Gold's gym, Patrick is meeting us at the PalmWoods this time."

"Oh," Katie perked up a little bit. "Can I come too? I haven't gotten any boxing done in a while." She slowly started to back towards her own room, waiting for an answer from one of the boys.

"Go ahead," Kendall chuckled. "Just hurry up so we're not late." Katie turned and hurried into her room to get changed and Carlos turned to Kendall, opening his mouth to point out something. "I know," Kendall interrupted, already knowing what he was going to say. "Trust me, I know."

* * *

Katie followed her brother and his friends into the PalmWoods gym, looking around, making sure that the punching bags were open. Most people who looked at her would think that she wouldn't even think of getting into boxing. Many would think that she was easily to break and that she needed someone to protect her. But she was one of the toughest girls that you could meet and her interest in boxing was pretty much inevitable.

"Hey guys," Patrick Jackson-McGuire grinned, moving his long black hair out of his face as he appeared in front of them. "I was wondering when you'd get here." He said.

"Are we late?" Carlos sprang forward and grabbed the boy by his shoulders, starting to shake him. "I swear we left to get here on time. Tell me we're not late!"

"Carlitos," Patrick pushed Carlos' hands away. "I was just saying 'hi'," he reassured him before turning his attention to all of them. "You're not late. But I'm sort of surprised that you didn't get here as early as James did." He motioned over to James, who was lifting some weights.

"Oh, you know James," Kati said with a condescending tone. "He worries so much about his appearance that he would work out every single hour of every single day if he could." She cracked her knuckles. "So what do you have in store for these idiots today?" She asked her friend.

"That's for me to know and for _them_ to find out," Patrick replied with a mischievous glint in his eye. He turned to Kendall, Logan, and Carlos. "Just get started on the bikes, an easy start, and then we'll lift some weights and get on the treadmill, ok?"

Katie waited until the other guys went to go do as they were told, grabbing James along the way. She gave a small laughed as she grabbed onto Patrick's forearm. "You're going to run them into the ground aren't you?" she asked.

"You know me too well," Patrick replied and lightly patted her hand before going over to the rack of weights to get set up for the workout that day.

Katie grabbed her bag from the ground and walked over to the large punching bag that was sitting in the far corner of the room. She reached inside and grabbed her boxing gloves, sliding them over her hands before she started her barrage on the work out equipment. With each hit, she could feel her frustration starting to melt away. She wasn't going to say anything out loud, but she was starting to feel as annoyed with the boys as her friends and family were.

_Ever since they got to LA they seem to be doing things __their__ way instead of the way that they're asked to do it. _Katie slowly moved in a circle as she continued to punch the leathery object in front of her. _It's not that I'm not proud of my brother, but he has to realize that not everything revolves around him. He can't fix everything with a smile and an apology; he can't always fix his friends' problems._

She slowed down her punches as she watched the boys on the bikes. They didn't seem to be going that fast, if anything, they were probably weren't powering the bike too much. Not even breaking a sweat. She knew from watching them enough that this wasn't what Patrick meant by taking things easy. She looked over at the raven haired boy and could see that he was already annoyed by their antics. The slight clench of his jaw as he moved some things around so they could get some work done was a tell-tale sign.

She could have gone over to him and talked to him, saying that the guys were just going through some things that were making them act ungrateful. She could just chalk it up to them being boys. She could say that they were being overworked by Gustavo and were so tired that they were acting different. She could even say that Mrs. Knight was pushing them to do more chores around the place, but they would all be lies.

She could have done all of those things to defend her behavior.

But the way she saw it, it wasn't any of her business and they were going to have to figure out that their actions affected others one way or another.

* * *

"Can we stop now?" Carlos asked in some sort a whine as he continued to job on the treadmill. "We've been running for 40 minutes." He looked down at the indicators on his treadmill and let out a heavy sigh. "Whatever we did to make you hate us, we're sorry." He added as a desperate plea.

"Carlos, you've hardly even broken a sweat from running on this thing," James pointed out. He looked like he was taking a breezy walk through the park. As the other boys were breathing heavily, his breathing was steady. It was obvious that he was in the most shape out of all of them.

"You're doing fine guys, you don't have much longer." Patrick commented as he slowly walked back and forth in front of the treadmills that the four boys were running on. He scanned their faces. "In fact, this looks a bit too easy for you guys."

"You're kidding right?" Kendall asked, wiping sweat off of his forehead with the back of his arm.

Patrick gave a sadistic smile as he jumped up onto the front of Carlos' treadmill. He reached out and pressed the up button on the speed and smiled even wider as it went from 6.0 to 10.0. He then moved over to Kendall's, Logan's, and James' treadmills and did the same thing. He jumped down from James' treadmill and backed up a few steps, crossing his arms over his chest.

Carlos let out a shriek and started to run faster, hoping to keep pace with the belt. He was able to do it for about 20 seconds, but then started to slow down. He looked over at Kendall, Logan, and James and saw that they were struggling as well. James looked to be a bit less stressed (he went to the gym almost every day) but even he knew that this was torture. Carlos reached out to grab onto the handles, giving himself leverage to slow down. Patrick leaned over and smacked the top of his hand.

"Don't stop until I tell you to," he instructed before flipping his hair out of his face. He looked at Kendall out of the corner of his eye as he reached for the stop button. "Hit it and I'll break your finger." He threatened.

Patrick took a step back, crossing his arms over his chest, and watched.

Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James were gasping for air, their faces red. Sweat was streaming down their faces and their bodies, making it look like they were crying. At this point, Carlos looked like he was doing some sort of a galloping-running crossover, James was pumping his arms as fast as he could, even swinging them around in a circle to be sure that his legs would keep moving, Logan was using as little energy as possible by doing high-knees as he continued on the treadmill, and Kendall was promising everything he could think of, mentally, just to get the treadmill to stop.

"Uh, Patrick," Katie moved over to her friend's side, looking at the four boys. "As much as I love to watch the guys be tortured," she made a face when she saw how sweaty they were. "I think that you're taking this a little bit too far."

Patrick shrugged. "Sorry," he apologized. "But I take this really seriously, and if they want to be sure they're in top shape for the band, they're going to have to work really hard."

"And?" Katie prompted, giving him a knowing smile.

"And," Patrick shrugged again, smiling. "I figured that I'd help my sisters, since they didn't take the chance to yell at them."

"I thought so," Katie commented, sounding impressed. "You're just about as devious as I am." She scratched the side of her head. "But I don't blame you guys, they've been late to a lot of things lately. Mom's getting kind of upset, because they've been ignoring their chores as well."

"Hm," Patrick made a grunting sound. He took a step forward and climbed up onto Carlos' treadmill once more; looking at the time as he it slowly dwindled down. "Annnnnnd…..stop!" he declared, jabbing the large, red 'stop' button on the machine. He then moved over onto the other boys' machines and turned them off as well.

He watched with amusement as they fell to the floor of the treadmill and was deposited onto the floor, falling into a heap. Patrick walked over to them and grinned as he placed his hands on his hips.

"So," he stated. "Who wants to do another set?" He laughed when he got groans and Carlos' horrified scream in reply. "Ok, then how about we get smoothies instead?" He grabbed onto Logan's arm and started to drag him to his feet, but as soon as he let go, Logan crumpled back to the ground. "Or you can just lie there, that works too."

Katie smiled.

* * *

**A/N: **Finally we can update again. So, FFN deleated one of my old stories (it's back up now) and we couldn't update for four days. We kept your all posted through twitter though. It wasn't such a long time, but it felt like FOREVER. We'll update our other stories soon**. **And here's the next chapter. Sorry I didn't have James talk so much, I just went with what I know in real life and had him at the gym earlier than the other guys. What did you guys think?

Cheers,

-Riles


	4. Chapter 4

**~Chaper Four~**

"_And when we go, far ahead…_" Pausing on his words, Noah ran a hand across his raven locks and pursed his lips slightly before nodding to himself. He unhooked the pen that sat on the outside of his pocket and jotted the words down, trying to form another song for his band…while he waited for Big Time Rush to join him for their writing session. With their second album coming up, Gustavo gave them the idea, or rather _demanded_ that they write their own songs to prove that they were really a band, really talented, and should be taken seriously. "_When we, understand…_" He drummed his fingers on the edge of the clipboard which served as a place to rest the sheet of paper. "Not good enough…" He sighed.

Putting the clipboard down, Noah yawned and started twirling the pen between his fingers, putting his foot up on the edge of the soundboard table, leaning back in his chair. Upon glancing at the clock, he realized that two hours had flown by since he had first started working on the lyrics. He made a noise of annoyance as he started rocking back and forth in the chair but other than that, his face didn't show any emotion.

He knew that Kendall, James, Carlos, and Logan took their music seriously, but there were many times, including currently, where he wondered if that was true at all. He knew that James was really the only one to _really _want to do it and the others had just come along for the ride and that didn't really sit well with him, despite being friends with the boys. All those years he had endlessly worked hard to build up the reputation for delivering good music, taking everything seriously and knowing when to goof off, when someone who didn't really want to do it walked in and became popular, taking the spot from someone who could have been trying all their lives to make it. And as for James; for someone that wanted it so bad, he didn't seem to take it so seriously anymore.

At least he got four lines down for that song today – it was an improvement, and for him, time _very_ well spent. He would've loved to finish the song, but inspiration just didn't come to him that day. That, and glancing at the clock every five minutes, it was hard to concentrate at all on the sheet of paper.

Noah jumped, nearly falling out of his seat when the door burst open and Kendall, James, Carlos, and Logan walked in, breathing heavily, faces red. Noah arched an eyebrow turning in his chair to face them. "I know…what you're going to say," Kendall breathed, hands on his knees. Noah tilted his head to the side, giving a "Yeah right" look. "We're late…we know. Gustavo…kept us…in the studio."

"Yeah," Logan agreed, squeezing his side with one hand. "He wasn't happy…with what we were doing…in the studio."

_Not surprised_, Noah thought to himself, instinctively turning towards James and Carlos to see if they had anything else to say. When they didn't, Noah briefly closed his eyes, sitting up in his chair. "Let me play you guys something to give you some inspiration to write before we begin." He turned around in his chair, and pressed a few buttons on the sound board. Seconds later a loud guitar rift filled the air before the song began. Noah pulled his phone out of his pocket and quickly fired off a text to Riley.

**Noah: BTR finally made it.**

**Riley: Surprised they made the effort…two hours later.**

**Noah: Said Gustavo kept 'em.**

**Riley: S'possible. **

Noah slid his phone back into his pocket, twiddling his thumbs as he waited for the song to finish. Once it did, he turned back around to face the four boys, who were lounged around Ronn's office, notebooks on their laps.

"Cool song." James commented as Noah switched off the player. "Actually, it's more than cool." He continued. "It's absolutely amazing."

"I know," Noah replied shortly."I wrote them. Not to brag." He cleared his throat, sitting up straighter in his chair. "Something like that could come from you if you take the time to actually sit down and try and crank something out." He ran his fingers through his hair and added, "You won't get it on the first try." He looked each boy in the eye. "What's the overall theme of your next album? Have you at least figured that one out yet?"

"Yes we did," Carlos replied with a wide grin. "Girls. And dancing." Noah's lips twitched but he didn't say anything. "A lot of our fans are girls, and they like to dance, so why not cater our songs to both?"

"Well, upbeat songs are really in now," Noah commented, rubbing his chin. "Did you all at least come u with some lyrics? It could just be one or two lines of something." Noah instantly looked over at Kendall. Noah was surprised to learn that Kendall liked writing song lyrics from time to time and they were pretty good, so he naturally turned towards the one who had more experience with it first. His eyes narrowed slightly when he saw the boys exchange glances.

Noah sighed, continuing to look at Kendall. "How many songs have you written? In your whole entire life, how many songs have you written?"

"I lost count," Kendall admitted, grinning slightly. "I've just always done it. I never kept track."

"So, when it comes down to it, you can't write lyrics when someone _tells_ you to?" Noah asked and Kendall's grin slowly faded. "You're not serious about this at all are you?" He then looked around at James, Carlos, and Logan. "Be honest."

"No, we're serious about it," Carlos muttered, eyes wide. "We just forgot to do it, that's all. You see, this week was the rematch of the PalmWoods Derby and—" Logan elbowed Carlos hard in the side, shaking his head.

"Look, you're not going to get far in this industry if you don't' learn how to balance work and play," Noah commented, an annoyed look crossing his face. "Clearly, you don't know how to balance it. Everything's a joke to you and in turn, you're wasting everyone's time."

"You don't understand how much I _want_ this," James commented, leaning forward in his chair. "This has always been my dream. Well, Gustavo wasn't in it, but I've always wanted to perform and to be famous."

"If you're doing it just for the fame, then you don't know what you want," Noah said with a slowly shake of his head. "Music is something connected to an individual _individually_. The way someone connects depends on when they're listening to it, what mood they were in previously, what's going on in their life, what's _happened_ in their lives, what they think will happen… I can go on forever and list the things that make music connect to people. Some people listen to the lyrics. Some listen to the drums. Some listen to the guitars, some just listen to the instruments in general. They say that music gives off good messages, but it only gives those messages if they _feel_ those messages. You can take two people, let them listen to the same song, and they might get two different opinions of the music completely." He looked each member of BTR in the eye as he spoke. "Your lack of writing down a simple two lines shows to me that you're not connecting with putting in hard work. Everything's fun for you; hey, maybe it'll work. Maybe you'll write _fun_ songs." He gave a one-shouldered shrug.

Kendall closed his eyes and leaned back against the couch behind him, resting his head on the hard cloth covered wood as he tried to take in what the boy saying. Some lyricists wouldn't even know the impact of their jobs on people, and yet, they would willingly write for the money. Noah, and his brothers and sisters, who had spent most of their lives listening to music and writing down song lyrics as soon as inspiration struck (he had even witnessed them at the beach, come in from surfing, grab a notebook and jot down some lines, all while trying not to get the paper wet, and immediately head back out) took their songs seriously, making sure their album could really hit and relate to anyone that listened whether it was a ballad or whether it was a poppy song.

"I think…when it all comes down to it…individually, and even as a group, you're not ready," Noah commented in his quiet voice, looking as if he was daring the boys to correct him. "For anything." He got to his feet and started packing up his stuff. Pushing Ronan's large swivel chair back into place before making his way to the door. "Even Gustavo knows better than this."

* * *

**Yeah, it's a short chapter, but it took me forever to think of how they'd piss of Noah as you'd have to do something REALLY bad to get a rise out of him. While it may look like he's not that mad, he actually is.**

**Hope you guys liked this.**

**Cheers,**

**-Rhubes**


	5. Chapter 5

**.:Chapter Five:.**

* * *

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Carlos asked as Kendall reached out a hand and knocked on the door. "I mean, what if they don't want to talk to us."

"There have been plenty times where they didn't want to talk to us before, or just haven't had the time, and they did anyway." Kendall replied with a shrug as he placed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. But a look of worry flashed over his face. It was probably the first time in his life that he wasn't exactly certain about something. Truth be told, you never knew how the Jacksons were going to react to something.

"Besides," Logan ran a hand through his hair. "It's a better idea to at lets go to them and try to talk to them instead of waiting for them to come to us, which we know will never happen, or just do random things to show them that we've changed and that we really want this."

"But we _have_ changed and we _do_ want this." James pointed out. He then paused. "Well, at least I do." He added and then smiled a little, holding his arms up as Carlos reached out to hit him. "Kidding, anyway, what makes you think that just talking to them will help?"

"I don't," Kendall replied with a shrug. "It was more like wishful thinking."

"Hello?" The boys all turned around before moving their eyes down to see Sydney standing in the doorway, quietly peering around the door. "Oh," his eyes lit up when he spotted his friends and he stood up straight, opening the door a little. "Hi guys!" He greeted and then looked confused. "What are you doing here?"

"We came to talk to you guys," Kendall replied patiently.

"Sorry, I'm the only one here," Sydney shook his head. "As it is, I wasn't even supposed to open the door for anyone, but I heard your guys' voices so I figured it wouldn't be a problem." He flipped his overgrown hair out of his face, his bangs resting on his eyelashes. "I'm sure Ronan wouldn't mind if you came in though, I'll just explain what was going on." He backed away as he opened the door wider for his friends to go through.

"Where is everyone?" Carlos asked as he slowly inched forward, acting like his foot was about to be bitten off.

"At the studio or something," Sydney replied with a shrug. "I wasn't needed today, so I stayed in and decided to get some work done." A large, proud smile slid onto his face.

"Work on what, exactly?" Kendall tilted his head to the side, his blonde hair falling into his face.

"Come see," Sydney hurried over to the living room and jumped onto the couch, grabbing his laptop and pulling it onto his lap.

He opened the screen and turned the computer around so they could see what he was looking at. A bunch of complicated math equations were staring them back in the face. The boys got a headache just by looking at it for less than a second. Sydney patiently waited for their response, causing Kendall, James, and Carlos to slowly turn and look over at Logan, who gave a pained smile in reply. Sydney's shoulders slumped as he let out a sigh. Sometimes being so mart caused him to get either very bored or very let down when people obviously didn't seem as interested in science and math as he was. Logan was good to talk to, but he was still far from being part of Mensa like Sydney is.

"I'm helping Professor Chen with an atomic forces and general relativity paper" Sydney explained as he closed his laptop. "Don't ask me to explain it, because if I did, I might give you nightmares for the rest of your lives." He pushed his laptop aside and stood up on the couch so he was at his friends' eye-level. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Your brothers and sisters…and our…uh, lack of tact, I guess is the word I'm looking for." Logan replied with a nervous smile.

Sydney twisted his mouth to the side as he thought for a moment. Finally, he crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes narrowing a little. "Do you know how it feels to continually defend you guys and then be proven wrong each and every time I do it?" He asked and then continued before any of the guys can speak. "I don't think that you've ever leaned that in Hollywood you always affect someone else with your actions." He licked his lips. "When you were supposed to be at a fitting with Riley, she wanted to show you the new stage costumes that she had spent two weeks working on for you guys. Rhu-Rhu missed a dance expo just so she could wait for you guys to get to practice. Patrick takes working out _very _seriously and it seemed like you guys didn't really try. And you know what happened with Noah." He shrugged once again.

"But how were we supposed to know all of those things?" James asked, trying to defend himself. "It's not like you ever told us that that was what you were going to do."

"That's true," Sydney conceded with a short nod. "But at the same time, you have to figure out that in Hollywood, you can easily be replaced. But Gustavo holds so much faith in you guys that he's doing everything he can make sure that you're a success, and having Hollywood change you, isn't helping much."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on!" Kendall held up his hands. "I don't know if you guys remember," he looked around at James, Carlos, and Logan before turning back to Sydney. "But when we first got here, we made a _pact _that Hollywood wouldn't change us! And it hasn't!"

"Oh yeah?" Sydney's eyes flashed. "Before you came to Hollywood, were you ever late for work?" He asked Kendall and then addressed all four of the guys. "You used to play hockey all the time, now it'll be a cold day in hell if you ever pick up a hockey stick."

Carlos' eyebrows raised in surprise, doing his best to keep his mouth closed. Sydney never cursed, he absolutely hated it. He went so far as to have his brothers and sisters put two dollars in the "potty mouth jar" if they ever did it when he was around. Although if asked, anyone would say that it was an easier way for him to earn money rather than waiting until he was 18 to get the money that he earned from his band.

"All that you care about is meeting girls and getting girlfriends," Sydney continued. He leaned his head to the side and scratched his neck. "I suppose that when I get older, I'll understand it, but it shouldn't be your top priority." He thought for another minute. "And whenever you guys are up to something, you don't seem to care about anyone else's feelings. Like, everything that Gustavo and Kelly have tried to do for you guys, you find a way to mess it up. Or you jeopardize someone else's job." He thought for a moment. "Remember when you went on Good Day LA? I get that you were disappointed, but the fact that your guys' segment was bumped off happens all the time and you should have taken it graciously. Instead, you were so selfish that you drove a producer crazy, got her fired, caused Katie to run over about thirty men in a security cart, and caused thousands of dollars of damage to a TV set."

"Yeah, but-"

"Shut up!" Sydney snapped. "I'm not done yet!" He jumped off of the couch and walked around it, resting against the back. "I'll give you the chance to talk in a second! I just want you to realize that no matter how down-to-earth you guys are and how you said that you weren't going to get "Hollywood Fever" you guys _have_ changed. You've changed into spoiled brats that don't seem like you care about anyone else unless you're having fun. And I know when to have fun, trust me, I'm 11 years old. I know fun!"

Carlos sucked his lips into his mouth as he thought about it. With every single thing that they've managed to d in Hollywood, most of the time it _did_ seem to be at someone else's expense. It was actually surprising to him that Gustavo and Kelly had kept them around for so long if all they did was give them nothing but grief and continuously break things. But at the same time, they had done nothing but give Gustavo success with his company, especially since they were going to be the last project that he could have before Griffin took over the company and booted Gustavo out.

_We're the ones that are keeping Gustavo hanging by a thread and we've done nothing but cause him grief and his blood pressure to rise almost every time he looks at us._ Carlos thought to himself as he let out a small whimpering sound, thinking back on everything that they had done. _Who knows, Griffin could probably be getting tired of us already and wants to dump us for some other boy band that will behave better or get bigger than we do._

He looked over at Kendall, Logan, and James and he could tell that they were thinking the same thing, more or less. As much as there had been times that they had managed to be successful with their music or some sort of plan to try and get things better for them, it usually _was_ at the expense of someone else. Thinking back on all of it, they seemed to be sort of selfish with everything that they wanted, just because it seemed like they deserved it.

"He's right," Kendall finally spoke up. "We've been acting like everything that we got we deserved instead of working very hard for it." He motioned over to Sydney. "I mean, you guys have been working on your music for almost 10 years and everything that you guys get, you deserve. We've only been working for about two years and we take everything for granted. Especially our friends who are trying to help us."

Sydney's frown never left his face.

"So, we have to do something to prove to everyone that we really want to do this and that we want to have them help us to make it where we are," Kendall continued and then nodded. "No matter how long it takes."

"Yeah, dude, we're really sorry with everything that's happened." James added as he reached out and mussed the younger boy's hair. "We have been acting pretty selfish lately."

"Not just lately," Logan broke in. "Almost as soon as we got here. The idea of fame and fortune really got to us and we're really sorry about that." He shrugged. "What do you think that we can do to make it better?"

"Well, first thing that you can do is apologize like you did to me," Sydney said as he rubbed a hand across his nose. "I mean, I don't know how that's going to help much, since we don't take apologies unless you actually mean them, but I know you do." He finally smiled. "Then you can make sure that you're on time, ready to work. There's time for fun and there's time to be serious, you can have fun when you're working, but you can't get carried away with it."

"Oh," Carlos clasped his hands together. "Maybe we can also bring Kelly some flowers, to show her how sorry we are. You know, get a big bouquet going with roses and daisies and sunflowers, I'm sure she'll like that!" He bounced once on his toes. "Oh! And one for Mama Knight too, I don't think I ever thanked her for letting us come out here."

"Ok, Carlos, you're on flowers," Kendall declared, getting back into leader more once more. He turned to Logan. "You make up a schedule for us, that way we know where we're supposed to be and when we're supposed to be there." He paused and shuddered a little, looking like he was going to hate what he was going to say next. "It's probably a good idea if you add in when we're supposed to do homework as well, mom has really been getting on my case about my grade in science."

"Got it." Logan gave a thumbs up and whipped out his phone, starting to tape out a schedule.

"James, you can…" Kendall trailed off, not sure what to do next. "Uhhh," he rubbed the back of his neck before turning to his taller friend. "Is there anything that you're even remotely good at?" He then rolled his eyes. "Besides looking good?"

"No," James shrugged. "Looking good and singing are my only talents."

"Uh, you can help me…" Sydney trailed off for a bit. "Oh, we can set up a party or something." He suggested. "We haven't had a party in a while and I think that this would be a good reason to have one." He then twisted his foot into the ground. "Plus, it would keep me from getting lonely while I'm here, there's not much to do around here when my brothers and sisters aren't around."

"Got it," James gave a double thumbs up.

"And I'll get Katie's help to keep us focused." Kendall added. "Plus, I don't think I've been spending as much time with her as I possibly could have been." He cracked his knuckles before pointing over at Sydney. "Anything that we can do for you?"

"Yes," Sydney nodded before reaching up and grabbing Kendall by the collar of his shirt and pulling him down to his eye-level so he could glare directly at him. "_Don't _put me in this position again and _don't_ screw me over!" He let go of Kendall's shirt, allowing him to stand back up and slowly back away with his friends. "But of course, actions speak louder than words, so I have to see you guys actually making an effort before I can completely forgive you again."

"Something tells me that in the future, you're probably going to find a way to rule to the worl under your dictator fist." James said, his hazel eyes widened with fear.

Sydney smiled.

* * *

**A/N: **Alright, so this chapter shows our frustrations with some things on the show. It seems like the guys get everything that they want (besides at the end of Big Time Jobs) with no worry a bout how they're affecting other people, so it's all spelled out here. I hope you guys liked it.

Cheers,

-Riles


	6. Chapter 6

**~Chapter Six~**

"Sydney?" Katie asked, her eyes popping open as she looked back and forth at her brother and his friends. She put her hand out to her side, showing a height. "The little boy about this big, with dimples, and the bluest eyes I've ever seen? He told you to shut up?"

"Yeah, we couldn't believe it either," Kendall replied, shaking his head. Katie stared at them before she burst out laughing. An annoyed look passed over Kendall's face. It was not the reaction he had expected from his baby sister at all. While he knew she was one to tell you something like it is, there were occasions where she would show sympathy for him, like he hoped he would in this case. "It's not that funny."

"It kind of is," Katie replied once her laughter died down. "I didn't think he'd get mad over something like this. I mean, he really looks up to you guys."

"According to him, he was the only one who had been pulling for us to actually come through for them the whole time," Logan commented as he started to lean back in his chair.

"Well, you guys _were _being jerks to them," Katie commented as she started to eat her cereal.

"Thanks, Kates, that means a lot," Kendall deadpanned.

"I'm serious," Katie replied, her eyes widening slightly. "Look, you guys have always been jerks to me, but I own the right to say that as your sister. And sure, they can be jerky in their own way as well, but when it all comes down to it, they've been busting their butts trying to help you out since you got here while working on their own music." She scooped a mouthful of Cocoa Puffs into her mouth before adding, "And I get why they're mad, I mean, you've barely shown that you cared about what they do to help. I don't think I've ever heard you thank 'em."

"That's pretty much what they all told us," James said before a psychotic look crossed his face. "Noah actually said we weren't ready for this, but this face, _this face_ is ready for it." Katie merely rolled her eyes.

She hated seeing her brother and his friends that depressed. The last time she saw them like hat was when they were still in Minnesota and they were all grounded after they decided to skip school to catch a hockey game. But, that didn't even last long as they just snuck out of their rooms while their parents were working and then snuck back in before they got back.

Katie realized with a start that it was the only affecting them this bad because they were the only friends they had in California that they saw everyday and all the time. Sure, Stephanie, Jo, and Camille were around at the Palm Woods, but they weren't in the same line of business so they didn't always understand the things that the boys had to deal with.

"And it was also _that face _that pissed off your friends," Katie pointed out, pointing her spoon at him. "Look, do you want my help or not?"

Carlos merely plucked her spoon out of her hands and grabbed her bowl of cereal puling it in front of him. He took a large bite of her cereal when she made a noise of protest. "That depends," Carlos replied, milk dribbling down his chin. "What do you know?"

"I know you're going to pay for taking my cereal," Katie muttered, shooting him an annoyed look. "In case you've forgotten, I'm still on speaking terms with 'em."

"Have they told you anything?" Logan asked, sitting up, looking hopeful. Katie felt bad for him.

Being best friends with Riley and Rhuben since childhood, they normally gave Logan a little bit of slack for the stupid things he did, but he had to have really pushed them over the edge to not get any this time around. And It was clearly something he couldn't handle as he would try and call or text them or even go over to their house from time to time, trying to apologize in person, but they wouldn't take the time to talk to them.

"Maybe, maybe not," Katie replied in a sing-song voice.

"Come on, Katie, this is important," Kendall replied.

"You don't think I know that?" Katie replied, arching an eyebrow. "For some reason beyond my knowledge they actually care for you idiots." She paused as she looked at James, Kendall, Carlos, and Logan in turn. "And so do I. And as your baby sister, I own the right to be just as difficult and say, _I can't believe you_!"

Kendall winced. He knew Katie could get really mad when the time called for it, but it was so rare that he was never used to it and could never anticipate when it was going to happen. "Geez, mom brought you here because both she and I, and Kelly and Gustavo, believed in you guys. But instead of doing as you're told, you act like everything's a game! Which, I don't understand—"

Katie then looked pointedly at Kendall, "because you took your job back home at the grocery store so seriously. It doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever, Kendall! I don't get why you would drag me out here to just play around all the time. Can you explain it to me, please, because I feel like ever since we stepped off the dam plane all I've been doing is fixing your guys' mess."

She then got out of her seat and headed into the room she and Mrs. Knight share, kicking the door shut behind her. A few minutes later, she came back out carrying a bag on her arm, sunglasses on. "If you need me, which you will, I'll be at the pool," she announced before she made her way out the door, her flip flops slapping against the bottoms of her feet as she walked away.

"Seems to me like we're not on anybody's good side recently," Kendall commented with a heavy sigh, blowing his bangs of his forehead. "Guys, we said Hollywood would never change us." He pushed his chair back and started to pace. "And we didn't; but maybe we should have, a little bit. But, there's always a time for change." He snapped his fingers and pointed at Carlos, "have you taken care of the flowers?"

"They'll be sent tomorrow, promptly at noon," Carlos replied with a wide smile before downing the last of the milk in the bowl.

"Logan, how's that schedule coming?" Kendall asked, clapping his friend on the shoulder.

"We should be leaving for a wardrobe fitting with Riley in about an hour," Logan said as he looked at his watch. "And I have already calculated in traffic and the possibility of being stopped by fans. We'll make it."

"Party planning?" Kendall asked, turning to James.

"Is scheduled for this weekend in Palm Woods Park," James replied, leaning back in his chair. "Sydney and I both agreed that we thought it'd be better if we actually were on speaking terms with everybody _before_ we threw the party." He set the chair legs on the floor, resting his arms on the table. "You know, instead of having to risk them not showing up at all."

"And I think we're all in agreement that we'll need Katie's help with this," Kendall concluded, clapping his hands together. "And she deserves an explanation as well. We don't know if Riley will actually show up for our meeting, but let's hope she does." A sly grin made its way onto his face. "And if she shows up, we're going to _give_ her a reason to not give up on us."

"I smell plan," James announced. "What do you have in mind, Kendall?"

"First, we need to find Katie," Kendall replied, taking long strides towards the door. As he flung it open, he stopped when he saw Katie leaning against the wall, facing apartment 2J, tapping her feet. She shoved the bag into his chest. "Katie? Wha-?"

"I was wondering how long it was going to take you," Katie said with a roll of her eyes. "I've already got a plan, _as usual_. Put that on and I'll explain on the way."

"What _are _these?" Kendall asked, reaching into the bag, pulling out a pair of swimming trunks.

"Your old clothes," Katie deadpanned and Kendall arched an eyebrow. "I've been running low on money, I needed something to bring in some funds." She then grinned. "I knew they'd come in handy one day.

* * *

Riley whistled to herself as she wrapped a line of measuring tape around a male mannequin's waist before making a tick on it with her pen. She stuck her pen behind her ear and removed the measuring tape, dropping it onto a rack of clothes before she started shifting through it. She briefly glanced up as the door swung open and Katie walked in.

"Hey, Riles," Katie greeted the older girl with a smile.

"What's up, Katie?" Riley asked as she pushed the various hangers aside, looking for something. "Hey, I have the Kingdom Hearts game for you." She fished inside her pocket before pulling out a game cartridge, tossing it to the smaller girl. "I've already beat it and erased my file."

"Thanks," Katie said with a grin. "The guys will be here in a moment."

Riley's eyebrows twitched as she flexed her wrist to check her watch. "So those boof heads will be on time for once," she said more to herself than to Katie. "We'll see how long that lasts."

She jumped when the door was practically kicked in and she turned to watch as Big Time Rush trooped into the room and her jaw dropped as she stopped what she was doing. "What... do you think…you're wearing?" she asked slowly in a low voice, looking as if she was doing everything she could to not blow up on the spot.

Kendall had on a tie dye t-shirt with the sleeves ripped, an acid wash jean jacket was worn over that, those sleeves ripped as well, and leather gloves. His hair was spiked up in each direction and at the base was a neon colored hair bands. His jeans were rainbow colored and he wore bright green vans.

James looked like a cross between a snowboarder and a gangster with a white wife beater and dog tags. He chewed on the end of a toothpick as he adjusted his purple pimp hat. His jeans hung low on his hips, but he wore Captain America themed swim trunks over top and bright orange crocs on his feet. A pair of horn rimmed glasses were perched on his nose.

Logan looked as if he was a cross between Elvis and someone from the mafia. His hair was slicked back with massive amounts of gel. He wore a leather jacket, with tassles hanging off the arms, a gray tank top and tight black pants, paired off with black boots with white wings on 'em.

Carlos looked to be the most simply dressed, although he still was an eye sore. His hat, t-shirt, and pants had a Chinese checkered colorful theme to it and Riley actually had to blink a few times to stop her eyes from hurting as she looked at him.

"I know," Katie said gleefully. "They look _stupid_. Not that it's a step up from how they normally look."

Riley's eyebrow twitched, "Took the words right out of my mouth."

"We just decided to drop by," Logan said as he tugged at his jacket, pulling out a small comb from the pocket before sliding it through his hair. He struggled for a moment as his hair had gotten caught because of all of the gel in his hair. He cleared his throat and then put the comb back, "to see how you were doing." Riley arched an eyebrow.

"You know, you've been really restricting when it comes to what clothes we can wear," Carlos added, sliding his hands into his jeans pockets, rocking back and forth on his feet. "We don't need your help with it anymore."

"In fact, I think we look pretty _good_," James added, turning to look at himself in the full length mirror on the back of the door. He started to flex his muscles, smiling at himself in the mirror. "Myself especially."

"I think we can handle picking styles for ourselves," Kendall said, spinning on the spot. He gave her a grin. "We've chosen clothes that show our personality well, eh?"

Riley slapped herself in the forehead. "I know what you idiots are doing," she said, an edge to her tone. "You're trying to wear outfits that are so…so…_stupid_ that it'll make me want to work with you again." Her face turned a bright shade of red. "When in _reality_ all you're _doing_ is putting my _reputation AT STAKE, YA BOOF-HEADS!_"

"…Come again?" Carlos asked quietly.

"Did you EVER stop think that that because you had to go OUTSIDE to get here that the paparazzi could TAKE PICTURES OF YOU and post it all over the INTERNET and slap MY NAME all over it?" Riley demanded, her voice getting louder and more high pitched the angrier she got. She threw her arms into the air before she started to pace. "You hadn't fired me as your wardrobe stylist so I'M going to get backlash for sticking you in…in…THAT!"

She then stopped and crossed her arms over her chest, rapidly tapping the floor with her foot. "You clearly have no respect for the hard work I've put into making you presentable and making a name for myself to throw it all away like that." She snapped her fingers together to emphasize her point.

"Look, Landy" Logan said with a heavy sigh, his shoulders slumping. He briefly caught Riley's face softening when she heard him use his nickname for her. "I know we really messed things up for you and I know that because we forgot about the wardrobe fitting that you never got the chance to show us our new stage costumes."

"Which we're really excited about, by the way," Carlos added with a fleeting smile as Riley turned her icy blue eyes towards him. "Just sayin'."

"Yeah, Beautiful, we'd really like to see 'em," James added, turning away from the mirror. "Sydney told us how hard and how long you've worked on 'em." He then added, "And I bet I look_ great_ in it." Kendall elbowed him hard in the side.

"The point is we know you've worked so hard for us and after a while, we just expect you to do things for us and we're sorry," Kendall concluded. "And we want to thank you for everything you've done for us."

"Riles, I know you and your brothers and your sister aren't ones to give people second changes," Logan quickly cut in, seeing Riley open her mouth to talk. "But, obviously, there's something different about us if you do keep giving us chances."

"She wants to see you guys succeed," Katie pointed out, "we all do. We've told you that time and time again. We wouldn't bat an eyelash at you if we thought otherwise." Riley merely waved her arm in Katie's direction, but otherwise didn't say anything.

"And, we understand that," Logan replied. "Really, we do." He then clapped his hands together. "Um, well, that's it, I guess." Riley was still silent, pursing her lips. Logan gently hit Carlos on the arm. "Let's go, guys."

"_Freeze_!" Riley all but shouted at them as they neared the door. Big Time Rush stopped and turned back around to face her, hopeful looks on their faces. Rile tilted her head to the side before she started to rub her temples."I'm not gonna to let you go out there looking like dills who are trying to bring retro clothes back."

She tapped her chin as she walked over to them, first looking at Carlos, "Those shirt, pants, and hat are way too loud, it's too much design and makes me want to punch you." She then moved over to Logan, "What, are you _trying_ to look like Danny Zucko?" She roughly pulled Logan's sunglasses off his head and proceeded to mess up his gelled hair before moving onto James, and proceeding to walk past him as his outfit was so out there she didn't even want to bother with it, before stopping on Kendall, "Either Bozo the Clown threw up on you or you got attacked by someone from My Little Pony."

"Okay, say no more," Kendall said, raising his hands defensively. "Do you think we actually _wanted_ to go out dressed like this?"

"Clearly you did if you're standing here, Kendall," Riley replied, arching an eyebrow. She pinched the bridge of her nose before waving her hand in the air. "Well?" she demanded. "What are you waiting for? Go and take those clothes off, we have a lot of work to do."

Kendall exchanged grins with his friends before they all hurried into the bathroom. Shaking her head and muttering under her breath, Riley moved a rack of clothes in the middle of the room, hanging measuring tape from around her neck. "They're just too much to handle sometimes."

"You're telling me," Katie replied with a snort and a roll of her eyes as she dropped into a chair, picking up a magazine from the table. "I've been with 'em all my life. So you forgive 'em?"

"Ask me that again after a couple _accidental_ jabs from my needle," Riley replied with a smirk, causing Katie to burst out laughing. "You wanna see what their outfits look like?"

Katie nodded.

* * *

**Sorry it took so long to update. I actually forgot it was my turn to update. But, I hope you guys liked this chapter. **

**Cheers,**

**-Rhubes**


	7. Chapter 7

**.:Chapter Seven:.**

* * *

Rhuben looked at her watch before hitching her backpack up over her shoulder, waving to her boss; Tom, and leaving the Cascade Café, walking into the mass crowd of the mall. She reached into the pocket of her cargo shorts and pulled out her phone before speed-dialing Ronan.

"Hey Ronan, I finished my extra shift at the restaurant and now I'm on my way to Rocque Records. I don't plan on being there long, I doubt that they're going to be on time today either." She rolled her eyes. "So expect me to be home in about twenty minutes or so. I'll see you when I get home. "Rhuben closed her phone and put it back into her pocket.

When she looked up, she jumped a little, letting out alight shriek when she noticed James and Carlos standing in front of her. She quickly looked back over her shoulder before looking over at them again, placing a hand on her chest.

"Don't do that." She snapped, ignoring some of the looks that had turned their way when she had let out the cry.

"Sorry, Benny," Carlos apologized with a shrug. "We didn't mean to scare you." She studied him closely. He looked excited for something. It must be big, she reasoned as she hadn't seen Carlos that happy ever since they had announced that they were going to be putting out a second album.

"What are you doing here?" Rhuben asked with an impatient sigh as she looked at her watch. "You're supposed to be at Rocque Records." She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest as he looked away. "Although lately I'm never sure where you guys are going to be when you say you're going to be somewhere."

"We deserve that, Rhu" James admitted with a nod as he held up his hands. "Really, we do. And we're really sorry for everything that we have put you guys through and how we've been taking advantage of you guys." He waited as Rhuben continued to look away from him. He didn't continue until she slowly looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "Really we are, and we wanted to show you how sorry we are."

"By stalking me?" Rhuben turned to face him completely. "How did you guys know I was here?"

"Syd told us that you took an extra shift today since you missed one recently," Carlos looked at the ground as he twisted his big toe into the floor of the mall. "You know, since we were so late that day that we made you late to practically everything else that you had plan-"

"She knows that, Carlos." James placed a hand over Carlos' mouth and pushed him behind him. "Anyways, like I said, we wanted to show you how sorry we are."

"How do you plan on doing that?" Rhuben demanded with massive amounts of attitude. "What makes you think that I'm just going to go and do what you want me to do?" She finally looked them up and down, taking in their new black and white stage-clothes. No matter how mad she was at them, she had to admit that her sister did a great job with their new look for their new CD. _Now if only they would actually take that energy and put it into the work that they need to be dome. _She shook her head as she looked back and forth between the two of them for a second. "I see that you've gotten to Riles, how long did that take?" She asked.

"Long enough for her to jab me in the thigh 50 times with a needle," Carlos whimpered as he rubbed the sore spot on his leg. "I didn't even notice it the first three ten times, they were that fast, but after that, I'm sure that she did it on purpose."

True to her word, when Riley was showing the guys what their new stage clothes were like, she had managed to "accidentally" stick each of them in the legs and sides a few times before they had even noticed. Of course she had continued to do it, even after they had found out, just to be sure that they got her unspoken message. After that, the guys could tell that she was really excited to show off everything that she had for them and they were sure that she was on at least good speaking terms with them now.

They knew that Rhuben would be harder to crack as even if she was happy, she could still manage to keep her happiness hidden until she wanted to show it. So if she was still mad at the guys, they would still be unsure about it until she distinctively let them know what she was feeling.

"Thing is," Carlos popped back in front of James. "You don't really have a choice in the matter."

Rhuben looked at them oddly. "You're not going to, like, kidnap me are you?"

* * *

"I wonder where they are," Kendall commented as he continued to pace the dance studio. "I didn't think that it would take them this long to find her." He turned to look at Katie and Logan, who were sitting on the floor of the dance studio, looking like they didn't have a care in the world. "You don't think that they had a problem getting her here, do you?"

"Relax Bro," Katie reassured him calmly. "Part of her contract with Gustavo is that she has to be here when she's needed. And because they're always so serious with their work, they have to listen to it or they would be annoyed with themselves." She shrugged. "That's one reason why they're a better band than you guys." She gave a smug smile as Kendall rolled his eyes.

Beside her, Logan stayed quiet. Even though they were trying to make things better, there were still a lot of things that they needed to change. Katie was partially right, they were a better band than them, but it wasn't just because Rhuben and her siblings had been in the music industry for so long, it was that they knew when to be serious and they knew when to have fun. But that didn't mean that he and his friends weren't trying and that they weren't getting better as the days went on.

But comments like that made him wonder if it was even worth it sometimes.

He always wanted to be a doctor, not a musician, so why would he want that to change now. Deep down, he knew the reason why. He wanted to be known as something other than the boy that wanted to be a doctor, or the boy that didn't take risks. Besides, Kendall was a smooth talker, he could talk you into anything and make it sound convincing.

And it really worked, singing and performing was something that Logan loved to do and he didn't know where he would be without his friends' help.

"Thanks for that, Katie. That helps a lot." Kendall nervously ran his hands through his hair.

"I don't think I've ever seen you so worked up before, Kendall." Logan remarked, crossing his legs at the ankles. "Not even when we were losing the state championships 3 to 0 before coming back in the end and beating them."

"Yeah, but then all we were doing was losing a stupid metal cup," Kendall replied. "Now we have the chance of losing some of the best friends that we've ever had."

Logan started to say something, but stopped when the door suddenly burst open. He watched with confusion as James and Carlos walked into the room, holding onto something. He looked down and laughed a little when he noticed that the two of them were holding onto Rhuben's feet and were dragging her into the room. From the look on her face, he could tell that she had tried to get them to let go of her a while ago, but gave up when she finally realized that they weren't listening.

"Got her!" Carlos cheered with a bright smile.

"I can see that." Logan laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "What did you do? Kidnap her?"

"It was the only way that I could think of getting her here without her making up such a fight about it." James used his free hand to make a muscle in his bicep. "If I didn't go to the gym so much, I wouldn't be able to keep her from getting away."

"Or have the police called on you." Katie commented as she shook her head.

"Stop dragging me!" Rhuben cried her arms above her head, her hair fanned out behind her as she was pulled across the ground by her feet. "You're messing up my hair!"

"I didn't think that you were the kind of girl that cared about her hair so much," Carlos remarked as the two of them dropped her feet to the ground with an audible 'thud'. Rhuben sat up and quickly started to straighten her hair.

"All girls care about their hair," Rhuben explained as she sat up, dragging her fingers through her raven locks. "Whether they admit it or not." She finally shook out her hair and smoothed it over her shoulders. "I was already on my way over here, boofheads, what'd you attack me for?"

"It was Katie's idea." Carlos practically whined as he pointed over at the younger girl.

Rhuben shot a confused looked over at Katie as she got to her feet. Katie gave a half smile before placing her hand son her hips. "Listen, we all know that the guys made a mistake taking advantage of yours, Kelly's, Gustavo's, and Ronan's work." She said diplomatically. "And even though we weren't sure, we all know that deep down they really want this to work for them. They want the same kind of success that you guys have." She explained. Rhuben nodded, motioning for her to continue. "And they're not going to get there without your help."

"What does that have to do with bringing me here then?" Rhuben asked as she stood up, placing her hands on her slender hips. "I mean, Carlos looked like he was about to jump out of his skin with excitement, it seems like you wanted to show me something."

"We do," It was now Logan's turn to look excited. "After getting our clothes done with Riley we've been working _all night long _on some of our old routines to make it as good as you wanted them to be." He clasped his hands together. "We took every note that you've ever given us and applied it the best that we could so we could show you that we really, truly, want this and that we're so sorry, Bella."

Rhuben shook her head, looking away for a moment. "I judge by actions, not words." She finally said and then backed up until she was resting against the mirror behind her, so she was able to see all four boys in front of her. She placed her hands in the pockets of her shrunken jacket. "Let's see what you've been working on." She instructed with a nod of her head.

Katie smiled over at her brother before hurrying over to the boom box that was sitting on the floor and pressed PLAY.

Their first song _Big Time Rush _came out of the speakers and they performed it with as much gusto and energy as they could. Every mark that they had they hit with as much precision as possible. Even if they messed up, they tried not to let it show, knowing that it could make or break a performance. (Not to mention that it was one of her biggest pet peeves when it came to dancing). They worked as hard as they could through the whole three minute song and when they slammed to a stop, they were completely out of breath; even more exhausted than if they were working with Gustavo.

Katie clapped appreciatively as she turned off the boom box.

Rhuben tilted her head to the side as she continued to lean against the mirror. She stayed silent for a few moments, her lips pursed a little bit.

"I hope you don't think that performing that well is going to be the only thing that makes me forgive you guys." She said quietly, hunched forward a little bit.

"We don't think that'll be the only thing," Kendall said as he shook his head. "Our dedication will," His chest heaved up and down as he rested his hands on his bent knees. "Our drive to show you that we want this as much as you guys want us to get it." He stood up straight and wiped sweat off of his forehead. "Really, Benny, we do. We may not act like it all the time, but we do."

"What'd you think?" Logan asked his eyes squeezed shut painfully.

"Well, it's obvious that you worked all night on this," Rhuben said after a minute. "Because you've greatly improved." She gave a hint of a smile. "I have to admit that I'm slightly impressed."

"You are?" Carlos gave a bright smile.

"Slightly," Rhuben repeated. Just like her sister, she was never one to give an outright compliment. "But like I said, you worked all night, what you _should _have done was gotten sleep and showed me how well you could do it later. Not run yourselves to the ground."

"Ugh," James tilted his head back and ran his hands over his flushed face for a moment. "We can't do anything to please you can we?"

"It wasn't our fault, remember," Kendall said as he put an arm around James' back. "It was Katie's remember? She was the one that suggested that we work all night long to get better at it." He let out a breath of air, his face flushed. "She also convinced mom and Kelly to let us stay here all night too."

Rhuben exchanged glances with Kati and shook her head before walking over to the guys' bags and pulling out their towels. She passed them out to teach of the boys and then instructed them to take a few minutes break.

"What are we going to do after that?" Carlos asked, slumping to the ground.

"I'm going to kick your asses into high-gear," Rhuben replied in a 'duh' tone with a shrug. "If you thought that I worked you hard before, then you don't know what 'hard' is."

She smiled as she sat down on the floor with them, starting to stretch.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry for the long wait on this chapter. I got a bit of a writer's block. I hope that you guys like it.

Cheers,

-Riles


	8. Chapter 8

**~Chapter Eight~**

* * *

"Let me get this straight," Patrick said to Katie the next day as he stood in the lobby of the Palm Woods, shoving a pair of purple gloves into his armpit before he started to wrap her hands with tape, "you actually _want _me to help you today?"

"Why is that so hard to believe?" Katie asked with a roll of her eyes.

"Because every other time I offered you fed me this crap about feminism and how I'm a chauvinistic pig," Patrick replied, his words laced with his Australian accent as he shot Katie an annoyed look.

"In most cases you are," Katie replied with a sweet smile. "Especially when it has something to do with a hot girl."

Patrick pursed his lips before shrugging. "You're going to want to tape your feet as well." Katie gave him a confused look. "I've been thinking about it for a while and I honestly believe kickboxing will be better for you. Plus, they have a girl's kickboxing club down at the community center."

"And _you're_ going to teach me?" Katie asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Fortunately, with Robert still around I quickly learned how to defend myself," Patrick commented before lifting the roll of tape up to his mouth, tearing it with his teeth. He then handed Katie her gloves and she put them on her hand. "Besides, you know I enjoy when you watch me. It gives me the extra boost to work that much harder."

Katie looked over at him then casually picked up her gloved hand and gave Patrick a hard punch to the arm. "Ow! What was that for?" Patrick asked, rubbing the spot where he got hit. The spot was bright red and he knew immediately that it was going to bruise.

"For being cheeky," Katie replied with a smirk. "You know I hate it when you're cheeky. Not to mention it's things like that that make me call you a chauvinistic pig. Like I don't have better things to do than act like your many fans and fall all over you."

"Oh, you mean _besides _getting James and Carlos to kidnap Rhubes?" Patrick asked, giving her a pointed look and she shrugged.

"It was easy for them to do," she replied before waving her gloved hand in the air as Patrick looked over his shoulder. "Relax, they're not going to jump you."

"So you say," Patrick muttered, motioning for her to follow him into the gym. He pushed the door open and flicked on the lights, making a bee-line towards the punching bag. "Sit here and let me tape your feet."

"Good morning," Carlos sang as the door to the gym was kicked open. "Isn't today such a lovely day?"

"Ah, here bright and early," Patrick commented, glancing at his watch, as he moved to sit on the ground as Katie pulled off her socks and shoes. He shot her a look and she widened her eyes in innocence in reply. "I was wondering if you were going to show at all."

"We deserve that," Kendall said, putting up his hands, a relaxed grin on his face. "And we're willing to have you turn us into quivering piles of sweat if you have to."

"Don't even joke about that, you know he'll do it," Katie commented, pointing a warning finger at her brother.

"And to make it up to you, we'll be here earlier than _you_ next time," James added with a wink.

"We will?" Carlos, Logan, and Kendall asked in unison.

"That's the spirit!" James said, clapping Logan hard on the back before he proceeded to start flexing his muscles. "Besides, I think I've been losing some circumference around my guns if you know what I mean."

Patrick caught Katie's eye and tried not to laugh out loud. Patrick knew that the boys were deeply sorry about the actions they had taken recently and while he _was _annoyed with them for not taking his work outs seriously, they didn't really understand why he did. Plus, he wasn't as mad at the boys like his sister's were.

"I guess I need to explain some things to you," he commented, looking at the boys through his bangs. Normally, he kept his hair spiked, but when he swam or worked out, he didn't put in any gel because he would sweat it out. "Katie, I'll get back to you in a minute."

"Don't worry about me," Katie replied, waving her gloved hand in the air. Patrick eyed it warily before moving away from her.

"Simply put; working out is insanely important to me," Patrick explained, running his fingers through his hair. "Actually, I'm the only one in my family that takes it seriously. And it's only because when Robert was around, my appearance was really the only thing I could control." His eyes squinted as he thought about it for a moment and then he nodded. "Plus, I kept seeing Riles and Rhubes always taking hits for my brothers and I so I figured if I built up enough muscles, I could help out."

He gave a weak smile as he flexed his muscles, his biceps instantly raising against his skin. He then relaxed and rubbed his arm. "Anyway, the gym was like my haven I guess. No one could ever really come in here and make me feel…unsafe I guess. I love being here. Working out is a way for me to let out my frustrations and stuff, I guess. I may be a jokester and look for laughs, but I take things very seriously in here."

"I'll let you back in here as long as you do everything I say and at least _try_ before saying you can't do something," Patrick commented, crossing his arms over his chest. "There's no way you'll be able to get through an hour show, maybe even an hour and a half, without doing this first. You need to build up your stamina and work on breath control." His nose wrinkled and he added, "I can't tell you how many great singers I've seen who didn't have a good grasp of breath control when they performed and got slammed for it."

"So…we're off the hook?" Carlos asked with a hopeful smile.

"I didn't say that," Patrick deadpanned, crossing his arms over his chest. "Start stretching." He then turned on his heels and made his way over to Katie, who was furiously punching the punching bag. "Good." He then lifted his foot and gave the bag a swift kick, putting a small dent in the side. "I want you to kick here; it'll hurt a little bit, but make sure you point your foot when you kick it and make sure you extend your leg all the way."

"You're not going to let them have it easy are you?" Katie asked, using her glove to wipe the sweat off her forehead.

"At first, yeah, I'd rather ease 'em in," Patrick replied with a shrug. "I never really hold grudges anyway. And I was never all that mad at them. I was kinda the same way when I first started to see fame out here, but with Robert around I could never really get that far off track." He glanced over at the Big Time Rush boys who were stretching their arms and legs. "Lucky for them, they were able to have more fun while being here than I have had."

"You always say performing is fun," Katie pointed out, backing up a few steps to prepare herself.

"Don't get me wrong, it is," Patrick replied, shaking his head, "but I mean, I've always had to take things _so _so seriously while I've been out here, while they can actually enjoy new experiences, y'know?"

"Yeah," Katie replied before swinging her foot forward, smacking the punching bag with a loud 'pop'. She grit her teeth as she lowered her foot to the ground. "Not bad."

"Told ya it would hurt," Patrick commented, his eyebrows twitching. "But not bad; just keep your foot pointed." He patted her on the shoulder before turning back to Kendall, James, Carlos, and Logan. "We're going to start with the warm-ups; ten jumping jacks, ten burbpees, ten push ups, go. One. Two. Three."

They repeated the warm-up five times to make one set. They were already sweating and breathing hard with that one set completed, but they needed to do it a second time. Patrick noticed that while they were doing their best to keep up with his counting, they were slowing down. He slightly shook his head back and forth.

"Alright, very good, go get a drink of water," he said after a moment, clapping his hands together. "Don't have any strength to complain?" He knew he was being a bit of a jerk, but he had never not worked hard in the gym. There were some days that he worked so hard, his legs felt like jelly and he had to sit for ten minutes before he could get up and make his way home. "Am I getting to tough for you?"

"No way," Logan breathed, squeezing his sides as he made his way out of the gym. "Bring it on."

"Just getting….warmed up," Carlos agreed from where he was sitting on the ground. He lifted his hands into the air and James grasped his hand and hauled him to his feet.

"Once you get back, we're going to start on weights," Patrick called after them as he made his way over to a bench press, sitting down on the end.

He pulled his workout gloves from the waistband of his shorts and put them on his hands before placing weights on either end of the bar. He then sat back down on the bench, leaned back and gripped the bar, letting out a deep breath.

"You should have someone spotting you," Katie commented, appearing at his side.

"I'll be fine," Patrick replied, before lifting the weight set, slowly lowering it down to his chest before he pushed it back up, extending his arms. He continued with his reps as Big Time Rush walked back in. "You guys ready?"

"Yeah, we're good," Kendall replied, giving a thumbs up.

"Good," Patrick replied, lowering the bar to his chest. "Hold this for a second." In one swift movement, he sat up, chest passing the bench press bar at the four boys. Carlos let out a loud scream, shooting out his hands to catch it, as James, Logan, and Kendall let out loud cries of shock.

"Hey, wait a minute," James said as he caught the bar. He started swinging his end up and down. "It's light."

"Gotcha," Patrick grinned before he and Katie started laughing. "Now, let's get down to business. Go and pick out a set of dumbbells from over there; nothing too heavy." He slapped Katie's palm in a high five as he took the weightless bar back. "By the way, Riles and Rhubes might not be too keen on the idea of going to a party for them, because they have being the center of attention sometimes, but I have an idea on how to get them there."

"How'd you know we were going to throw you guys a party?" Logan asked, his eyes narrowing before he looked over at Katie.

"I didn't say anything this time, honest," Katie, said, putting up her hands. She then punched her gloved hands together. "Don't believe me?"

"No," Logan said, his eyes widening, rapidly shaking his head.

"Syd told me," Patrick replied, scratching at his hair line. "News like that; you should know he can't keep a secret for that long. But, Riles and Rhubes don't know, don't worry."

"So, how do you think you'll get them there?" Kendall asked.

"You're going to have to get Ronan in on it, and maybe Gustavo, Kelly, and Mama Knight, so it's believable. You're going to have to apologize to them, by the way," Patrick replied, resting his elbows on his knees. "Leave that to me. I'm good at talking people into things."

"No, you're just good at talking," Katie reiterated. "You never stop."

"That too."

* * *

**A/N: I'm not a big fan of this chapter, but like I said in this, Patrick isn't really one to hold grudges and he wasn't as mad at his sisters. I hope you guys liked this chapter anyway.**

**Cheers,**

**-Rhubes**


	9. Chapter 9

**.:Chapter Nine:.**

* * *

"Can someone explain to me how I got stuck helping plan a party for people that I don't particularly care about?" Gustavo asked as he unraveled a roll of yellow streamer. He handed it over to Kelly, who took it, all the while glaring at her partner.

He, Kelly, Ronan, and Mrs. Knight were in apartment 2J, working as fast as they could to get the food and decorations done for the party that the boys were throwing. Although it was given to them at basically the last minute, they, with the exception of Gustavo, immediately jumped in to help them. They noticed the boys were acting a bit more depressed than usual, they knew that the Jacksons weren't going over to apartment 2J as often as usual. Mrs. Knight was worried as she has had more food leftover than she usually did, and she missed hearing all of their voices in the apartment. Even though it could still be pretty loud when it was just the boys, she had gotten used to the screaming and the competitiveness that they showed around each other.

Plus, she missed hearing the music that they would play for each other when they had gotten back from the studio. That background noise was something that she could always appreciate.

"Oh come on, Gustavo, you know that you care about them as much as Ronan does." Mrs. Knight said with a warm smile as she got up from the couch, looking at her watch. She hurried over to the kitchen, pulling her long hair up into a ponytail before reaching out and grabbing a pair of oven mitts, gently sliding them over her hands.

"I do not!" Gustavo grunted, sitting down on the couch, grabbing the remote as he did so.

Ronan rolled his eyes as he finished putting plastic wrap over a tray of sushi before putting it into the refrigerator. Trust Gustavo to never admit it whenever he particularly was fond of someone. They all knew that he wasn't telling the truth, or else he wouldn't have agreed to help the guys set up the party for their friends at the PalmWoods Park.

Mrs. Knight caught Ronan's eye and smiled to herself as she hurried over to the oven and peeked inside, where a Chicken was roasting, sizzling and crackling; emitting a glorious, rich aroma. She smiled and closed the oven door. The chicken still needed a few minutes more. She then proceeded to bustle to the other side of the room, where all manner of cakes and cookies were laying in a sweet rainbow of color. She added some frosting to a few of the last cookies, and covered them in plastic to keep them fresh. Then she hurried back to the oven and took out the chicken, as well as the other hot dishes that had been hidden inside.

"Don't you think that this is a little much for a party?" Ronan asked as he watched her struggle to take out the chicken that had been roasting. "I mean, most of this is going to end up in the trash anyway." He paused. "If Patrick doesn't' find a way to take it home with us." He added, snapping a few ends off of beans.

"Well, the guys want this to be special, to make sure that everything is okay between them and their friends," Mrs. Knight replied as she took off the oven mitts and started to pull out long strips of plastic wrap. "So I thought that it would be better if, even though it's a party at the PalmWoods Park, to have some really good food."

"Burgers would have been fine." Ronan insisted.

"You're only saying that because you don't like green beans." Kelly pointed out as she started to blow up balloons with a helium tank.

"Exactly."

"Would you guys quiet down!" Gustavo hollered from over at the couch. "I'm trying to watch TV!"

At that, Mrs. Knight walked over and snatched the remote from Gustavo's hands, jabbing it at the TV to turn it off. She then turned and gave Gustavo a sweet smile, although her eyes were flashing dangerously. "Gustavo, you agreed to come over here and help us, not sit on my couch and watch TV." She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned down a little. "Now, before I get angry, why don't you get over there and help Ronan snap some beans and make some potato salad."

"But I don't like-"Gustavo stopped when he saw Mrs. Knight slowly narrowing his eyes. "Yes ma'am!" He quickly hurried over to the kitchen and grabbed a large bowl of potatoes and a peeler and started peeling them rapidly.

Ronan laughed loudly. "Now you know how it feels!"

"You guys are a bunch of two year olds!" Kelly said with a sigh and a shake of her head. She suddenly squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head to the side, letting out a loud sneeze. "Achoo!" She rubbed her nose before turning back to the balloon that was now a few pumps of helium bigger than she intended and started to tie it. "Kace, why do you have so many flowers in here?" she asked, looking around.

"Oh," Mrs. Knight gave a warm smile as she pushed back a few petals on a sunflower in the vase that was sitting in the middle of the kitchen table. "The boys sent flowers over to apologize for shirking on their chores and their schoolwork."

"So they sent flowers to you, too?" Kelly remarked. "Yeah, they sent flowers to me as well. Unfortunately I had to throw them out because I'm allergic. I never got a chance to read the card."

"I read the card, up close and personal when you threw the flowers at me, to throw them out." Gustavo deadpanned as he continued to peel potatoes. "But the dogs definitely have good taste in gifts, they got me this watch." He held out his arm to show off his new Rolex. "My guess is that this took their paychecks from the past two months for it, because these things aren't cheap."

"Are you sure that that one's not?" Ronan asked, looking at the watch skeptically. He reached out and pushed Gustavo's watch up his wrist. "'Cause it looks to me that your wrist is turning green." He smiled.

"You want to see green?" Gustavo took a handful of green beans and shoved them into Ronan's mouth. Ronan glared back at him. "Didn't see _that_ coming did ya?"

* * *

"Good job, today guys." Noah said as he closed his notebook. "The song that you're writing is really coming along." He paused, giving a soft smile as he twirled a pencil around his fingers as if it was a drumstick. "But I still suggest that you guys use one of the songwriters that Gustavo has to tighten it up."

"But we want to write this song ourselves," Carlos protested. "Completely by ourselves!" He pouted a little as he crossed his arms over his chest. "The melody and everything, I mean, sure Gustavo is going to have _some_ say over it. But I think you get what I mean."

"I get what you mean, Carlos, don't worry." Noah leaned back in his leather seat, studying the four boys in front of him. "You can't possibly believe that every song we're written we've written completely by ourselves."

"But you write most of your own songs." Logan pointed.

"You hit the nail on the head when you said 'most'," Noah reminded him. "On our first CD we wrote, probably, half of them, but then we had other people, and Ronan, helping to make it the best that it could be. It wasn't until we really hit our stride that we started to do it completely by ourselves."

"You know," James rested his chin in his hand as he peeled his eyes away from the music sheet in front of him. "I think this is the most that I've ever heard you talk."

Noah smiled, albeit making a face. He didn't take offense to it, he was always naturally quiet, choosing to observe rather than participate sometimes. It was ironic, especially since he was so attached to Rhuben, as the two were more introverted, as Patrick, who was attached to Riley (when the two weren't attached to each other) were more extroverted. Sydney had a tendency to be a mix of both, depending on the situation and his mood.

"Now that we have that done," Kendall pushed his things aside and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "We need to talk party," he clasped his hands together. "We already have our friends coming; Mom, Ronan, Kelly, and Gustavo are working on the food and the decorations right now, we just to have to get it to the PalmWoods Park. So the last thing that we need to do is figure out how to get Riley and Rhuben there."

"Well, the main thing that's going to backfire in your face is the fact that it's a surprise," Noah remarked. "Considering Rhu hates surprises. But I understand why it's needed." He added.

"In this case I'm sure she'll get over it," Logan said with a half smile. He brought his thumb up to his mouth and bit on the thumbnail. "I don't know…maybe it's a better idea if we just tell them. Well," he paused. "Then that way they'd have a better chance of not going, so maybe it's a good idea if we do-"

Carlos rolled his eyes as Logan went off on another tangent of indecisiveness. He could do it for minutes at a time if he really wasn't sure about something. Usually it took someone snapping at him to get him to stop, but this time the others just ignored him as they continued talking about the party.

"Do _you_ have any ideas to get them there?" James asked. "I'm sure if you, Katie, Patrick, or Sydney thought of something, they would go along with it."

"What do you want me to do?" Noah snorted. "Throw myself down the stairs and break my leg? Yeah, that'll definitely get them to the PalmWoods Park."

"Maybe not, but an injury might," Kendall said after a second as he thought about it. He thought for a moment before he continued to speak. "I mean, how many times have they watched us play football and constantly say that one day we're going to break a bone from the way that we tackle each other?"

"Long enough for them to continually miss my mad football playing skills." James declared and brought his arms up, flexing his biceps. He grinned at how large they were, before mock-kissing them, moving his arms in another position to show off his triceps.

"Yeah, whatever," Carlos waved a hand. "I don't think they would be that happy to know that none of us are hurt, they'd probably kill us after that point."

Kendall shrugged. He wasn't really sure what it would take to get Riley and Rhuben to the PalmWoods Park. Sure, they would probably go if their brothers asked, but they would be really skeptical about it, wondering what they were up to as they were naturally suspicious. And while they respected Gustavo and Kelly, they never really did what they were told to do the first time, as they didn't respect authority that much (_that_ definitely wasn't just part of their image). Maybe if they just got Ronan and his mom to convince them to go, it would be easier for them to finish setting up and they wouldn't have to worry about them not listening to the two. Out of everyone, Ronan and Mrs. Knight were who they would probably listen to before anyone else.

"You look like you have an idea, Kendall." Noah remarked, resting his hands on his stomach.

"When am I known to _not_ have an idea?" Kendall said.

Noah smirked. "When are you known to not have a bad idea is the better statement."

"Good one."

"Thanks."

"So we're actually going to keep this a secret?" Logan asked, to be sure. Kendall, Carlos, Noah, and James nodded. "Alright, but if it blows up in our faces, I'm blaming you." He crossed his legs as he turned his gaze to Kendall. "What's your idea?"

"Find a way to get Ronan and Mrs. Knight to convince them to go to PalmWoods Park while we finish setting up and get this song," he pointed to his notebook. "Finished, so we can perform it for them."

Noah raised an eyebrows, staying silent for a few moments before speaking, rubbing the back of his neck. "Don't you think that's a little clichéd?" He asked. "Writing and performing a song to make them completely forgive you. Sounds kinda desperate to me."

"We're always desperate, what's your point?" Carlos didn't mind the jab that Noah sent his way.

"Speak for yourself," James whipped his hand mirror out of his pocket and flipped it open, grinning at his reflection as he moved his hair from his face, making sure it fell into his eyes perfectly. "I've never been desperate in my entire life."

"Keep thinking that if it makes you feel better," Kendall said dismissively. He turned back to Noah. "So just tell Katie, Patrick, and Sydney that we're going to get Ronan and my mom to somehow convince them to get to PalmWoods Park and act like you don't know anything that's going on." He tapped himself on the chest. "We'll handle the rest."

"If you're going to handle it, part of me thinks that this will definitely blow up," Noah said with a slight sigh. "But since it will be on your shoulders and not mine…" he trailed off and gave a smile.

Kendall smiled back.

This was going to be perfect.

* * *

**A/N: **One chapter left! Thanks for all of the reviews/feedback you guys! Glad you liked the story!

Cheers,

-Riles


	10. Chapter 10

**~Chapter Ten~**

* * *

Ronan and Kacy were the deciding factor to whether or not Big Time Rush's plan would work out. They knew that both Riley and Rhuben could be, and most likely would be, cynical about anything that came out of their mouths, but they were confident that they could convince the twins to get to Palm Woods park.

Ronan reached into his pocket as his cell phone started to ring. He quickly glanced at the Caller ID before answering his phone, putting it on speaker. "Yeah?"

"_Hedgehog to Old Man, come in Old Man_," Patrick's voice came over the phone. Ronan stared at the phone in his hand for a moment as Kacy quickly covered her mouth with her hand to stop herself from laughing out loud.

"What the heck are you doing?" Ronan asked, rubbing his temple with his free hand.

"_Using code names_," Patrick replied simply. Ronan could tell he was smiling. "_What, do you not like yours_?"

"I'm not old," Ronan replied, giving Kacy a warning look as she let out a squeek between her giggles, her shoulders shaking.

"_Well compared to me, you are_," Patrick replied. Ronan was sure at this point that he was grinning from ear to ear.

"Fine," Ronan replied with a roll of his eyes. "Why are you called Hedgehog?"

"_Spiked hair, duh_!" Patrick replied with a mocking attitude. "_Anyway, are at home yet_?"

"We just got here, Pat," Kacy replied, taking the phone away from Ronan. "We're going in now; just thinking of a plan to get them to come."

"_Got it, over and out_."

"Kids," Ronan muttered, shaking his head. He looked over at Kacy who was still laughing. "Would you stop? It's not funny!"

"It actually is if you stopped to think about it," Kacy replied, putting her hands up defensively. "Alright, alright. We need to come up with a plan."

"I was just thinking of asking, nay, _telling_ them to go, but that's just me," Ronan replied sliding his phone into his pocket before making his way into the apartment building.

"I know they pretty much do everything you ask them to do, but I don't think that's going to work this time," Kacy replied, following Ronan into the building. "Kendall and Katie were the same way until they got older. You're going to have to bribe them."

"HA!" Ronan laughed a loud laugh before his smile quickly faded. "Y'think?"

"I know," Kacy replied, raising her eyebrows. "Your daughters are a lot like Katie when she was younger; not that she's any less devious right now. Katie and Kendall rarely got into fights as kids, but when they did, they found out quickly how to get what they wanted." She lead the way into the elevator, jabbing her thumb into a round button, watching the doors slide shut. "They would take turns pretending to be hold a grudge against the other person, all the while actually having already made up with each other, just to get me to give them something." She gathered her hair up into a ponytail before moving it to rest on one shoulder. "Now, I'm not saying they've actually gone that far, but it's a possibility."

"Knowing Riley, it is," Ronan said, rubbing his chin. "But, at the same time my kids are more likely to forgive people, but not forget what they did." His eyes narrowed slightly. "Knowing them, I should be suspicious, but they were pretty upset about this one. They wouldn't even talk to Logan when he called."

"It doesn't hurt to be cautious is all I'm saying," Kacy replied with a shake of her head as they reached the floor to get to Ronan's apartment.

Ronan muttered under his breath as he put his keys in the lock to the door, swinging the door open. He made a face when he saw his two daughters lounging on the couch, eating out of ice cream cartons. "Didn't you get the boys' text to go to Palm Woods park?"

"Yep," the two girls replied in unison, their eyes fixed to the TV.

"And you don't want to go?" Ronan asked.

"Nope."

"Why not?" Kacy asked, exchanging glances with Ronan.

"We don't' feel like it," Rhuben replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which it was. "Plus, knowing the guys, they want to throw us a party or something."

"So we figured we'd show them that parties don't always fix everything," Riley replied around her spoonful of ice cream. "Not to mention; we hate being the center of attention for things like this, so it's pretty dumb. It was Kendall's plan no doubt." Rhuben just nodded.

"C'mon, don't be an antisocial freak," Ronan replied, crossing his arms over his chest. Kacy rolled her eyes, but she looked amused. Ronan was respected by his kids, but when it really came downto it, he got that respect because he didn't treat tem like they were kids. He knew when to have fun and when to be serious.

"C'mon, don't be an aggro party-guy," Riley retorted, deepening her voice to do an impression of Ronan. "Chill out, dude."

"Don't 'chill out' me," Ronan replied, now mocking Riley as he raised his voice up an octave. "And don't call me 'dude'." He then clapped his hands together. "Alright, what are we talkin' here; credit cards, shopping spree, what?"

"That's sure showing them you mean business," Kacy said with a roll of her eyes, shaking her head. "I guess, simply asking you to go won't get you off the couch?"

"Not really," Rhuben admitted, her nose wrinkling. "Although, if we go back to the credit card idea—"

Kacy fixed Ronan with a glare as he reached into his pocket for his wallet. She clicked her tongue and pulled his wallet out of his hands before facing the girls. "The boys really want you there," she said with a polite smile. Riley arched an eyebrow. "This is just to make up for things and to start fresh and new. You know that they want to succeed in this business; James especially."

"Do they?" Rhuben asked, snorting. "That's news to me." She pulled her feet back off the coffee table, setting her carton of ice cream onto the table. "Although, with the big spectacle they made carrying me through the mall, and the parking lot, and then proceeding to _drag _me everywhere, I guess that has to be true." She smacked her lips and looked over at Ronan. "You're out of coffee flavored ice cream by the way."

"Let's just cut to the chase here," Ronan said, clearly losing his patience. "You're going to that party whether you like it or not." He crossed his arms over his chest, trying to look firm, but Riley and Rhuben merely exchanged glances, looking amused. "You're just scared."

"Of what? Cake?" Riley asked before letting out a loud laugh. She pulled the metal spoon from her mouth, pointing it at the two adults. "No, I'm sensible. We all know that something will go wrong at that party. To go would most likely result in the three D's: drama, disaster and, _duh_ violence." Kacy couldn't help but laugh at the statement as Ronan sighed heavily, clearly annoyed.

"This is Kendall, Carlos, Logan, and James we're talking about," Rhuben said, slowly shaking her head from side to side. "We may have threatened them with death every now and then, but we'll snap one day. Just watch."

"Point is, we're not going," Riley said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Especially since they're going to do some _stupid _song to show us how much they care about us and spread around tons of good feelings as if it's a 'go team' moment." She punched the air with her fist and gave an over the top smile.

"Simply put; stop bothering us," Rhuben added, reaching for her carton again. In unison, the two girls leaned back against the couch cushions, put their feet up on the table, crossed their ankles, and put a spoonful of ice cream into their mouths.

"But you're so fun to bother," Ronan deadpanned. "Really, you are. I'm having a blast."

"You're being obnoxious," Riley pointed out.

"And _you're _going to that party," Kacy replied, all traces of happiness gone.

When she got mad, she got _mad_. She was, according to Katie and Kendall a mama bear when it came to her kids, stopping at nothing to get them what they wanted, as well as using her anger against them from time to time. When that side came out, you didn't hesitate to do as you were told. And Riley and Rhuben were aware of it. But, they gave her a suspicious look, trying to decide on whether or not to believe it.

"There'll be candy," she wheedled. The twins stayed silent. "I didn't want to do this, but I'm giving you to the count of three to get your shoes on and be out that door." She held up one finger." _One_." The two girls looked at her, wondering if she was joking. A second finger went up. "_Two_."She paused before her hand started shaking. "Don't you make me say 'three'."

"Fine, then," Riley said, heaving a sigh, putting her hands up in defense, as if worried Kacy would charge at her. "We'll go. You happy?"

"Yep," Kacy replied, just as perky as she was before, turning on her heels, casually making her way out the door."

"Next time, just do as she says," Ronan said in a stage whisper. "I never want to see her do that again."

"You and me both," Rhuben muttered, going to get her shoes.

As Ronan made sure the two girls did as they were told—_yelled_ to do, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and quickly called Patrick. "Hey, Pat—"

"_Hedgehog here, what's up Old Man_?"

"I'm _not _old," Ronan said with a heavy sigh. "The girls said they'd come, but—"

"But, make sure the guys don't sing some stupid, happy go lucky song about friendship," Riley said, grabbing the phone from Ronan's hands, pressing it to her hear.

"_Aye, Aye, SpitFire_," Patrick replied and Riley could imagine him saluting her. Before she hung up she could hear Sydney in the background shout, "_I told you the song was a stupid idea_" before Kendall replied with a "_Shut up_" and the boys started arguing before the line went dead.

"Jesus," Riley muttered. "Let's go get this over with."

The twin girls followed the adults out of the apartment and into the car, allowing Ronan to drive them over to Palm Woods park. As soon as they got there, they were pretty much bombarded by Carlos, who practically had to pull the two girls out of the car to give them bone crushing hugs. But, the party was a success, although the two girls did quickly get annoyed with how many times Kendall, James, Carlos, and Logan would apologize to them and make sure that everything was ok between them.

Gustavo and Kelly had noticed the Jackson's waning enthusiasm for wanting to work with the boys and easily made it up to them by deciding o pay them some more money for their services. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Gustavo was grateful for them helping him out. Mainly because it meant that he didn't have to be the bad guy by yelling at them, Riley and Rhuben would, and he knew they wouldn't hold back whereas Kelly would try everything she could to turn his yelling into constructive criticism.

"How'd you get them to come, mom?" Katie asked as she licked her lips free of icing from the cake that she was eating. As everyone else went for the more heart healthy foods, she instantly went for the cake. "They seemed pretty adamant about coming."

"Let's just say you weren't kidding about how she can get you to do things you don't want to do," Riley commented before biting into some green beans, causing some of the juice to go flying across the table, hitting Carlos in the face. "Sorry, Care Bear."

"That's ok," Carlos replied with a smile, grabbing his napkin. "And you know, I'm sorry about everything. Really, I am and—"

"Stop," Rhuben said in a low voice and Carlos immediately stopped talking, eyes wide.

"Sorry," he squeaked out, earning a chunk of bread thrown at him from Riley Rhuben, and Patrick, Noah, and Sydney. "So, when do you want us at the studio tomorrow."

"We'll be there bright and early," James added with a charming smile. "_And_ we'll make sure we work out with Patrick so we, or rather so _I _can show you guys how strong my muscles are getting."

"I look forward to it, Handsome," Riley deadpanned, rolling her eyes. "I don't care where you guys are going to be because we're going to the beach tomorrow."

"We'll meet you at noon," Kendall said, snapping his fingers before pointing at her. "Y'know, so we can be around to help you carry your stuff and stuff."

"Yeah, we could take turns looking after Sydney for you," Logan added.

"I don't need looking after," Sydney loudly whined, frowning. "I can take care of myself."

"Hey, you don't even have to bring anything, we'll go buy some stuff ourselves, right guys?" Carlos asked, turning to his friends, ignoring what Sydney had just said, and ignoring the looks of annoyance on the Jacksons' faces.

"Yeah, leave it all to us, no worries," James added with a wink. "You can count on us, no problem."

"We'll see," Noah commented, spearing a chunk of chicken with his fork. "We'll see."

* * *

**This was supposed to have an open end to it. I think it's a pretty lame ending, but then again, I've never been good at having endings that AREN'T (in my opinion) lame. So, I hope you guys liked this fic. This fic really can fit as a side story to a lot of our BTR fics. Once again, it was a fic to explain some of the things in BTR that annoyed us. Hope you enjoyed it.**

**Cheers,**

**-Rhubes**


End file.
